Back To The Beginning
by MsCharlieFabray
Summary: TimeTravel!Quinn & SeasonOne!Rachel. Quinn wakes up after the crash to see she's been given another chance and sent back to change her past, she knows one thing for sure, that she's going to win the heart of one Rachel Berry before it's too late...
1. Prologue

**A/N: Okay so I saw this post on tumblr and fell in love with the idea of doing a SeasonOne!Rachel and TimeTravel!Quinn fanfiction, I'll be uploading as much as I can and I've just finished my exams so it should be quite often :) Next chapter will be up soon, it's longer! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing unfotunatly or Finn and Teen Jesus would be living in a corner and Faberry would be law. **

**Huge thank you to superflyse who beta'd this! **

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Prologue: How it all ended

Quinn looked over to her phone, which was buzzing forcibly against the seat by her side. She knew exactly who it was from and why she was was wanted, because she was running late for the wedding of one Rachel Berry and to one Mr Finn Hudson and she was now being pestered by the diva to hurry. She bit her lip and took her eyes off the road, glancing at her phone. She couldn't miss it, she_ just_ couldn't, she had to stop this wedding before it was too late. Another text flashed on the screen, as her phone buzzed again shortly after the one before.

She sighed and and gave up, grabbing the mobile and typing the reply:_On my way._

The blonde never got to send it. Just as her thumb lingered over the send button, she felt the sudden impact of the truck as it collided into her driver's side door, the door bent inwards from the momentum of the truck. There was a torturous pain that shot through her entire body, she felt her ribs snap one by one and she shook with anguish. Her back twisted and there was a crunch from her spine, it had cracked in several places. She didn't even have the time to scream. The whole experience had only lasted a second before everything went black.

She never stood a chance.

oOo

When Quinn opened her eyes she found that she was lay on the ground, she looked up at the sky feeling as if the world was spinning beneath her. She blinked, trying to clear her blury vision. She sat up slowly, taking in deep breaths to calm herself and her radically beating heart. On the other side of the road she could see a truck and she suddenly remembered where she was. That was the truck that had hit her. The driver sat back in his seat, blood was trickling down his face from a cut on his forehead, she wanted to help him but first she_ had _to understand what_ exactly_ had just happened. One minute she was getting crushed and in agonizing pain, the next she was out of the car and felt fine. She looking down quickly and started to examine her body for signs of injury or blood but found she was perfectly fine and uninjured with not a scratch on her. There were no marks or scarring, no proof at all that she'd just been involved in a crash.

_'Maybe it was all a dream'_, she thought, but it was more hope than anything, she knew that something was wrong but she just couldn't figure out what it was. The dream of being fine quickly faded away when she noticed the bright orange flames in the corner of her eye. She witnessed the explosion like it were a mile away, she didn't flinch, there was no need to as she had no sense of fear. The thick grey smoke engulfed her, yet she could breathe clearly like it was a regular day and there was nothing but fresh air in her lungs.

She walked forward a few steps and tried to see past the thick cloud. She found her car, it had been t-boned from the pressure of the truck as it drove into her and crushed the vehicle. The metal was indented and mangled beyond repair, there was no way that she could have survived without a scratch on her body, no chance at all.

The cheerleader Quinn took in another long breath to try and stop herself from having a panic attack. She fought back the tears that had formed as everything clicked into place, slowly she started to understand. _'I couldn't have survived that, so maybe I didn't'__._ She hoped that she was wrong but every thought she had lead to the same conclusion. She couldn't feel what should have been a blazing heat from the flames that had engulfed the entirety of her car, yet she heard the sounds of explosion and had seen the fountain of sparks that had erupted from the engine.

As her hands were trembling and her knees weak, she stumbled backwards as her breathing quickened, she couldn't control the overwhelming feeling of utter loss. Everything she'd been though, everything she had was gone, or soon enough would be. The teenager's knees buckled and she fell to the floor. As much as she wanted to turn away and run, she couldn't draw her eyes away from the mess in front of her. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself, clinging onto anything that she could.

She watched silently, what more could she do other than wait, so that's what she did. It wasn't long before the emergency services arrived and the flames that surrounded her car were being dowsed in water. The paramedics worked hard to find any remains that they could from the burnt mess. The worst part of it all was when she saw her mother's car speeding down the road, she tried to swallow the lump in her throat knowing that it wouldn't be good, she knew that this was going to hurt. Coming to a skidding halt, the older Fabray flew out of her seat and threw herself forwards.

"Quinn! Please, let me get Quinn!" Judy screamed out as tears streamed down her face; Two police officers caught her and tried to hold her back as best they could. "Quinnie!" she cried as she tried to break free of their grip.

All Quinn wanted to do was propel herself forwards and hold her mom, tell her that she'd be okay and that she was going to a better place. She could remember when her grandmother had died and how badly the woman had taken it, her alcohol addiction had started then and Quinn knew that this could trigger her to drink again, but this time she wouldn't be there to put a stop to it, there wouldn't be anyone there to help her get better.

Quinn bent her head down to cover her eyes; she didn't want to watch the rest. She wanted it all to be over and done with. All that time spent in church never prepared her for this, seeing her own mom begging for her to be okay.

It was only then that she remembered what she really wanted, or more like who she really wanted. She wanted Rachel. She wanted to take the tiny girl brunette into her arms and tell her goodbye. She wanted to tell her how much she really meant to her, tell her that she loved her and how she was so sorry she never got the chance to be honest with her.

This wasn't the way that the day was supposed to go. She was supposed to stop the wedding and tell the singer how she really felt. She was supposed to do something, anything to make sure that the diva didn't make the biggest mistake of her life. It hurt that she was never going to hear that perfect voice ever again and to her, that was worse than death.

So Quinn closed her eyes tightly and did the only thing that she could think of, she prayed. She prayed for one more go, one more chance to make get it all right. She promised to make it better, to _be_ better.

She thought all her attempts of redemption were pointless because as much as she wanted it, she never believed she was worth it.

She was wrong.

oOo

When Quinn opened her eyes she expected to see either heaven, hell or maybe something else entirely but not to find herself standing on the stage in the William McKinley High School auditorium. She sniffed out of reflex and felt tears falling down her cheeks; her breath was short and shallow. The blonde didn't understand what was happening until she saw Rachel standing a short distance away. She had no idea how it was possible, but as she took in the girls appearance she knew exactly where, or _more_ importantly when she was. It took a moment for Quinn to finally heard her and she basked in the sound of that heavenly voice as Rachel sang her heart out.

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**Please review to let me know whether or not I should continue! **


	2. Chapter One

**A/N: Thank you for such an amazing response! This chapter is a bit of a run up, I've included a fabathroom scene and I hope you like it! **

**Thank you to superflyse for all the help with editing! **

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Chapter One: Baby steps

Quinn bolted from the auditorium the second the stage lights went off. She couldn't figure out what was going on and _freaking_ out was a complete understatement for what Quinn was going through right now. She headed directly to her locker, fumbling with the lock combination. When she finally yanked it open her breath hitched and her eyes widened as she looked inside, all her most recent pictures were gone, there were a few of her with Santana and Brittany and one of her with Finn. It wasn't right, she was supposed to have all those memories stored in there. There was no way that any of this was possible, there was just no way.

_What the hell is going on! _She wanted to cry or scream, maybe both, she wanted to do something. Her head was spinning, she fell back into the lockers and slid down until she reached the floor, she stared ahead of her in a daze. Quinn had faith, of course she did, because that's what she was raised with and she believed in God. Yet, she never believed that her prayers would ever be answered, especially not like this because she also believed that she wasn't worth it.

She bit her lip to muffle her whimper, she just wanted to go home.

Her head fell back against the lockers and pulled out her phone, looking at the time and date in the corner of the screen. It didn't look right, then she figured out why. The background on her phone had been changed from the Cheerio's picture back to one of herself and Finn. She was disgusted with the thought of dating the boy again, dating any_ boy_ again in fact. She tried to consider the possibility of it being correct but why her? Why should she have been given another chance to re-do her life? What had she ever done to make this a worthwhile investment from God?

The blonde put her phone back and as her hand grazed her stomach she froze after feeling the small bump. _I'm pregnant._ Now she was sure of where she was, or more importantly when she was. _It's Sophomore Year, why the hell was I sent back here? _She couldn't understand as to why send her back but not to before the pregnancy. She wasn't upset about it, in fact if it weren't for her being overwhelmed with confusion then she'd probably cry with happiness.

Quinn squeezed her eyes shut and took several long breaths. As the first tear fell she tried to blink it away, she wanted to stay strong but how could she when she's lost everything, it was all gone. She had to re-do her life again and sure she could change her mistakes but some of those mistakes made her who she was today. More tears fell, she wiped them away with the back of her hand, she wanted her mom and her real mom at that. It took some time but she began to calm down, she was lucky as a seconds later she heard the sound of heavy footsteps drawing closer, she groaned but got to her feet, she didn't want anyone to see her like this.

"Babe? Why did you run off?" Her head jerked around to see Finn looking down at her withhis dopey grin. She wanted to stomp on his face, she _really_ wanted to, but she resisted the urge. If this was all real and all her math equalled up then he was still her boyfriend right then and was completely oblivious to the fact that she despised the boy and the fact he wasn't the father.

"Bathroom, pregnancy and all that." She spoke quickly.

"Oh. Okay then, I have football now so I'll see you later." He replied, bending down for a kiss. She sucked in a breath and allowed their lips to meet in a quick kiss, she pulled a face the second his back was turned, pulling out her tongue.

"Gross." She muttered under her breath, but knowing that the boy was with her and not Rachel made it better as she remembered where she was just headed before the time warp happened. The ex-cheerleader watched Finn's tall frame walk down the corridor and she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth chewed on it nervously, knowing that she had to tell him the truth soon, she couldn't live that lie over again.

"What's up, Baby Momma?" She rolled her eyes at the name, knowing who it was that had just appeared without even having to turn to look.

"Puckerman." The blonde said sharply. Remembering that this boy wasn't the same as who she'd just left behind. This Puck was immature and cared only about himself, he still needed that push before he became more responsible.

"I just wondered If you were ready to dump Finn yet and have another go with the Puckasaurus?" He asked flirtatiously, but his attempts only made her gag. How did she ever like this boy, sure he was sweet in the end and was one of her best friends but how did she not notice she was Gay for Rachel Berry, until nearly a year later.

"Get lost, not interested." She waved him away and marched out the door. When she ended up outside she paused on the spot, just looking at her car. A flash of memories washed through her, the crash, the last time she saw this car and the mess it had become. The teenager flinched and stumbled backwards, looking around for anyone to give her a ride home. There was nobody, she was alone, again.

The walk home was tiring, she wasn't used to it and the fact that she was reluctant to even return to her old home made her sick. She knew exactly what she'd find the second that she opened the door and her guesses were right as she stepped into the living room she spotted the older woman in the far corner of the room, sitting in her usual chair, a glass of what looked like the old standard gin and tonic in one hand and the television remote in the other.

She remembered all those times she'd found her passed out on the couch and had to carry her up to bed or when she'd walked in on her father trying to wake her up because he expected his dinner and his own drink to be made.

She put on a brave face and smiled, "Hey mom."

"Quinnie," She looked up, her eyes a little bloodshot, "your father will be home soon, dear."

"Okay" she replied, as she started to make her way back she hesitated at the door, "Mom?"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"I love you" She said, feeling her heart breaking as the thought of the last memory of her mom screaming her name ran through her head. No, this woman was not her mother, well not the one that was finally free from her husband, after she threw him out when she found he had cheated on her. But it would be eventually be and for now, she could pretend, just so she'd feel a little more at home.

"...I love you too honey." The woman replied her speech a little slurred and puzzled, her forehead wrinkled but she ignored the strange behaviour from her daughter and returned her attention to her programme, "Dinner will be ready soon."

Quinn nodded in response and then ran up the stairs to her bedroom, closing it gently behind her. She walked over to her bed and crawled under her covers, taking her stuffed lamb into her arms and pulling it close.

She was terrified and had no idea what to do. Quinn knew that there was nobody that she trusted enough to tell, anyone she did would call her crazy, so what should she do? _Baby steps. _She told herself. Deciding to take it one day at a time, hopefully she'd eventually find answers or a way to accept that she'd been sent back in time to change whatever she did wrong to result in her death. It sounded weird to say but Quinn Fabray had died and she'd been brought back to stop it.

oOo

Quinn woke up to the sound of shouting and grimaced, this had been her normal wake up call for as long as she remembered, well, until she was kicked out of course. Her father would always pick a fight every morning, over something her mother had done wrong or not done to his standard and then yell about it over breakfast. The pregnant teenager tip-toed over to her wardrobe, careful to be quiet so she would avoid any confrontation with the hateful man.

She picked out her yellow sun-dress and a matching headband, hoping to catch Rachel's eye that day and make a new impression. She still didn't understand what was going on but that wouldn't stop her from being herself, even if it would confuse some people. She looked in the mirror and pulled a face at her long hair, she preferred it short and made a plan to get it cut as soon as she could.

Grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, she rushed down the steps and leaving the house with not so much of a goodbye to either of her parents, there wasn't any point as she'd just be used as someone to blame and end up being late for school.

She strolled into the school and when she arrived at her locker she placed her books inside and pulled down the picture of Finn, crumpling it up in her hand and tossing it into the closest trash can.

A Fresh start.

Quinn spotted Santana together with Puck on the other side of the corridor and bit back a laugh as she saw them flirting, she knew full well that the Latina was probably thinking of Brittany in that moment and as sad as it was that they had to hide, she did find it a little funny seeing her go to so much trouble in order to pretend it wasn't the case.

When the bell for the start of her first lesson went off, she jumped into action and began to root through her bag for her timetable and found she had Spanish with Mr. Shue. The blonde headed towards the class and as she entered she noticed Kurt and Mercedes sat in the corner chatting quietly to each other. Knowing she had to start somewhere to win her friends over, so she went to accompany them, sitting on the desk just in front.

"Morning." she smiled and turned in her seat and started to get her books ready, but is seemed as if she was unwanted as the divas looked at each other with a startled expression.

"Why are you talking to us?" Mercedes got straight to the point, "Whatever you're playing at, we're not fooled."

"I'm not doing anything, all I said was good morning." Quinn tried to assure her. The ex-cheerleader was upset by her friends attitude and although she knew that this wasn't _her_ Mercedes yet, it still didn't make it hurt any less.

"So you want to sit here? With us?" Kurt looked at her skeptical of her sudden changed attitude.

"Yes." Quinn nodded, "I promise, they'll be no funny business."

"Whatever you say" Mercedes sat back in her chair with a scowl.

"I'm just trying to be nice" the ex-punk replied, she crossed her arms and faced the front again. She made a mental note to try and put a stop to all the slushies but then again she wasn't the HBIC any more so there was a good chance that she'd end up getting her very own slushy facial just for asking.

"What are you doing, Q?" It was Santana and she was looking at the two behind her with a scowl, "Why are we sitting here?"

"Oh, well I thought you'd be sat with Brittany so I was just coming to sit with Kurt and Mercedes." She shrugged and tried to play it casual, it didn't work .

"Britt isn't in this class, what the fucks gotten into you, huh?" The Latina sat down next to her but her glare didn't falter, "Well, c'mon Tubbers, what's with you?"

"Nothing," Quinn all but growled, "and don't call me that!"

"Well, it's good to see you back, Q" Santana chuckled, "I thought we'd lost you for a minute there, I was gonna go all Lima Height's on your ass."

"Whatever, just shut up and let me take my notes." The blonde slumped forwards, she hated this, she hated all of it. She wanted _her _friends back, not _these _versions of them. She was in a mood and luckily she knew she had a free next, so she was going to try and hunt down Miss Berry to cheer herself up.

oOo

Quinn spent the first ten minutes wandering around the empty corridors in order to find the girl, she wasn't in the choir room or the auditorium and so she walked into the bathroom. Their bathroom. Her eyes fell onto the brunette's purple stained face and top the second she entered, she gawked at the girls naked shoulder as the singer tried to wipe off as much of the slushy as she could. The time traveller groaned quietly and stared openly, wanting nothing more than to walk right up to the girl and lick every ounce of her body clean right then and there.

She shook her head and tried to shove the thoughts into the back of her mind, she knew that whether she wanted it Rachel didn't and so she cleared her throat.

"Hey." She said breathlessly.

"Q-quinn" Rachel stuttered looking at the girl for only a second before turning away again in a huff, "come to gloat?"

"What? No!" Quinn yelled, shocking herself by the outburst and muttered an apology.

This startled the diva, she found it incredibly strange behaviour and she wondered if she was about to be made a fool of again, maybe hidden cameras or something. She quickly looked around the room to be sure and when she was she tried to read the pregnant girls body language but it told her nothing.

"What are you doing in here then?"

"I-I... Well, I was looking for you actually." Quinn said with a look of love and admiration. "I was wondering if you had a moment to talk?"

"Um, yes, okay." Rachel nodded, unable to find the words to explain the way her high school bully was watching her.

"I just-" She hesitated as she realized that _this _Rachel wasn't even her friend. She couldn't exactly tell her she had fallen so deeply in love with her that every time she had tried to tell her about how she felt, she backed out because she became so scared of loosing her that she'd prefer to have her as a friend and suffer rather than lose her entirely. "-I want to tell you that..." She imagined the reaction and Rachel saw the flash of pain and sadness in the blonde's eye, "that I'm sorry for hurting you in the past, I'm going to try and be better."

With that she turned and shot out of the door, leaving an extremely stunned Diva behind.

oOo

Glee was probably the worst part of the day, other than running into Rachel, when she sat down and looked around she noticed all the empty chairs. She missed the way that the choir room was a place where their family came together and were able to be themselves.

She missed seeing the newer members in the room, there was no Blaine, Sam, Sugar or Rory. Without them everything seemed so quiet and broken, she wanted to see _her_ friends. She dropped into the seat beside Finn she zoned out of the speech Mr. Schuester was trying to give about the mash up everyone needed to try and work on for Miss Pillsbury's wedding, she stopped listening after that, she knew that it ended in failure anyway. Instead she thought about one of the good things about the different time period and that was seeing Matt again, she spent a good few minutes actually questioning is disappearance, she never had asked what had happened to him.

Later in the hour Quinn had ran out of things to keep her mind busy and away from thoughts of mounting the diva right in the middle of the room for all to see. It took so much to fight against the impulse to look towards the girl and in doing so she couldn't see that the singer was in fact staring at her with interest. Rachel could tell something had changed about the girl, she just couldn't figure out what exactly. Quinn's nervousness with the conversation they had earlier had intrigued her and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

When Quinn finally left the choir room, she felt emotionally drained. She was feeling so low about missing her friends that she didn't even bother to push Finn away as he kissed her goodbye. The blonde was stumped, everything was going the way it had done before with a few changes thanks to herself. All she'd been thinking about was the accident and the thought had never occurred to her to just try and accept it. Sure, she was still going to try and find an answer but she'd been given a second chance at her life and although right now she was still taking_ baby steps_ she knew that she held the future in her hands, to fix it the way it's supposed to be.

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**Question: Who do you want as Quinn's best friend? **

**Next chapter: Jealous!Quinn and some changes by the blonde... ****Please review and tell me your thoughts it makes me write faster! **


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N: So I'm completely overwhelmed by the response to this, thank you guys so much for reviewing it means so much to know what you think! I really hope you like this chapter and I think I'll be updating this again quite soon :) **

**Many thanks to superflyse who without her help, I don't know how I'd write this story!  
**

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Chapter Two: Jealousy's a Bitch

Quinn arrived home after Glee and headed straight for her room, just knowing that her father now lived in the same house as her had put her on edge and she wanted to do everything she could to avoid him. After locking her door she took a moment to remember what it was she planned to do that evening. One thing was sure, she needed evaluate her situation and think up a plan.

First things first, she wanted to get changed out of her outfit as she felt uncomfortable in the dress and wanted something a bit more from "her time". Rummaging around her wardrobe she only found her baby doll dresses and although she did like them, one of the things she wanted was her newer style. Another thing she didn't like was her hair cut, much preferring it when it was shorter but that would have to wait as the chastity ball was next weekend and she would have to keep her father happy as in only a few weeks Finn would stupidly out her as pregnant, that was unless she stopped it.

The teenager found that she was in need of a shopping trip and since it would be a good way of bonding, she thought to ask Kurt and Mercedes to join her the next day at the mall, as long as she mentioned make over, Kurt would be in.

She spent the rest of her night re-arranging her room around and getting reacquainted with what actually in there, googling the effects of changing the past can have on the future, learning of paradox's and other things she took a note of, including gathering a list of Time Travel related books, movies and anything that could give a clue. Every now and again she would get distracted and click on another tab which she was using to research ways to _woo _Rachel. In the end, the thing she was most proud of was the chart she had created and had hung on the back of her door underneath some coats that hung there, it seemed like the best place to keep it hidden from her parents.

She'd used her notepad to write down every event she could remember happening up until the crash and then made a chart and calender accordingly and used gold stars to mark off everything that happened, since it made her think of Rachel and she felt that the girl would appreciate it.

Later on, Quinn ended up stood facing her open window. Looking out at the stars that were just starting to appear, the other houses and the treetops silhouettes in the moonlight. Everything about it was perfect, the cool breeze that caused goosebumps on her arms, the sounds of passing cars. This was first time that she had stopped and realized what she had, how someone or something out there had decided she was worth giving a second chance and she was alive because of it.

Still, even knowing this she felt _so_ alone. Quinn knew and never had a problem with the fact she normally preferred her own company to others. But in that moment, all she wanted was for someone to hold her and tell her it would all be okay. She craved her mom, not the one busy cleaning up after her father downstairs but the one that had divorced him and had learnt to accept Quinn for who she was.

Feeling exhausted, she closed her window and fell into her bed, climbing under the covers, her head thrown back upon the pillows. She was motionless, just thinking over the days to come and how she would change it into a better future for everyone, not just herself.

oOo

The next morning the blonde teenager woke with a new feeling, she was excited. Today was another day she was living, and she wanted to make the most of it. Her clothing choice was something she was happy to be in, picking out one of her dresses, a matching headband and a cardigan. She would have preferred to wear something a little different but this outfit helped to make her bump less noticeable.

The day was off to a good start, until she arrived at school and was welcomed by the sight of Puck pursuing Rachel. That relationship had been missed from her notes and she wasn't happy to see him pass over a grape flavored slushy to the diva to try and win her affections. It was frustrating, the fact he was able to do such things and she was forced to watch. Though what could she do? _This_ Rachel didn't know her like before but as Quinn filled with jealousy she knew that would change soon enough.

The ex-cheerleader forced herself into put all her energy into re-organizing her locker to the way she liked it and _not_ looking at Rachel, but even that was hard as her giggle could be heard from across he hallway.

"Hey babe," Quinn paused and rolled her eyes hating the term of endearment Finn used. Looking up, she saw him leaning against the neighbouring lockers and also watching the two Jews with just as much disgust as herself. "what's going on with them?"

"Don't know, don't care." She fumed, slamming her locker door with a little more force than intended.

"Oh, yeah same." He agreed begrudgingly, swinging his arm over her shoulder and pulling her into his chest. Instantly, she shrugged him off and took a step to the side to avoid his touch. She hated looking at him let alone touching him, she couldn't help but think of was how in another world, he was probably married to Rachel, since she wasn't there to have stopped the wedding.

"You have English first, right?" Finn asked, having tried to memorize her timetable the night before in hopes of impressing her and getting a chance to get to the next base with his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I do." She nodded, holding her books closer to her chest.

"Want me to walk you?"

"No." She deadpanned.

"Well... I guess, I'll... um.. see you at lunch then." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, she cringed. _I'm never going to be able to get used to that._

Quinn quickened her pace and arrived at her classroom early, she hesitated and glanced around hoping to see a familiar face. She found two, Matt and Mike sat at the far back talking together with smiles on their faces. The girl walked forwards and sat at their desk, placing her bag on the spare seat next to her to stop anyone else joining them.

"Hi boys," Quinn grinned, "what are you talking about?"

"Just the football game." Matt informed her.

Having never been close with either of them she wanted to give it try this time round, it had never occurred to her that she could have found friendship with either of the boys before since Matt left at the end of sophomore year and Mike became attached to Tina soon after but her hopes were to find something that they may have in common.

"Oh yeah, what about it?" The blonde raised her eyebrow, trying to show that she was actually interested.

"We were just saying how-" Mike started to speak but the other boy punched his shoulder quickly, trying to silence him. Obviously whatever they were talking about involved her in some way, and she now she definitely wanted to know how.

"Nothing, it's nothing." Matt released a shaky breath, nervous that he may piss off the de-throned HBIC since she was still terrifying when she wanted to be. Seeing Mike's reaction from the corner of his eye it was clear his friend had realised why he was stopped and both boys tried to move their attention to their work but the blonde was having none of it.

"What aren't you telling me?" She was a little hurt but her voice was strong in it's accusation.

"It's s-stupid." Matt all but whispered.

"Tell me!" Quinn demanded, using the fierce glare she'd learned and perfected so long ago.

The jocks froze and looked at each other, and just as she thought they weren't going to continue Mike spoke up again, "Well, we-we n-need a new quarterback, Finn is..."

"Terrible?" The blonde finished with a smirk.

"Yeah." Matt nodded with a confused expression, not understanding why the once head cheerleader wasn't reacting the way he'd expected her to when speaking about her boyfriend in a bad way.

"He's not the only replacement you guys need, you need a new coach too, maybe one that actually watches the game and can get control of the game. I heard rumors of this great coach in Missouri looking for a new challenge. You guys should see if you can get her to McKinley. She's legendary. Bieste, was her name I think, and if you can get her then there's a chance you guys may win a game before graduation." She said with an amused smile when seeing their jaws drop, "What? Am I not allowed to know enough about football to speak the truth?" Her barely there smile faded, "Sam was much better."

"Sam who?" Both teenager's questioned.

"...Shit." Quinn cursed after realizing she'd spoke the last part out loud, a mistake that she knew she couldn't make. They didn't know Sam yet, he wouldn't even be a student for another year. "Um, he's just a friend of mine."

"Can you get him to try out?" Matt asked eagerly.

"He doesn't go here."

"Can you get him to transfer?" Mike asked hopefully.

"I don't think transferring works like that but maybe, I guess I can try." Why she said that, she would never know. Great, h_ow do you plan to get Sam here? You idiot! He doesn't even move for another year..._

"Awesome," Matt grinned, "we need the players."

Just as the three started a new topic of conversation the teacher walked in and ordered silence. So as they started their work each of the boys made a silent plan to try harder with Quinn, it seemed that there was more to her than they'd expected. They had no idea that the blonde was thinking the exact same thing, turns out it was kinda nice to have friends.

oOo

At second period and Quinn had a free, and as much as she liked the her new found friends she needed time by herself. Admittedly, she probably preferred her own company to most others and enjoyed taking a little time everyone once in a while to be alone. So that's how the pregnant teenager ended up, laying down on the grassy field, looking up at the sky and the clouds.

The time went by quicker than expected, when Quinn found herself becoming drowsy she leaned over to her bag and rummaged through until she pulled out her phone which told her she had only a half hour left of her free.

Though, there wasn't much time left, she returned the phone and grabbed for her book she had been reading the previous day. Quinn enjoyed reading, no, she loved reading. It was her escape, it always had been. Every time her father had returned from work and took his anger out on her, she'd spend her night with her head stuck in a book getting lost in the story, and if she ever had spare time it was spent indulging in one of her many favorite stories.

Rolling over onto her stomach, the blonde turned the pages until she found the one she'd bookmarked. She soon lost track of time and about half way through her free her eyes were still on her book, oblivious to that someone had walked up to her. The time traveler was completely focused on her book, until she heard someone by her side clear their throat. She flinched and her eyes flickered to the intruder.

"Hi Q-quinn."

The blonde looked up, moving her hand quickly to block the sun as it tried to blind her. She was surprised to find Tina stood before her, the Goth wouldn't have been her first guess.

"Hi Tina, are you okay?"

"Y-yes, are y-you?" She said with her fake stutter.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Quinn replied nonchalantly.

"Y-you're lying in-in the m-m-middle of the f-football field, that's a-a little s-strange." Tina pointed out, looking around.

"It's not _that_ strange." Quinn mumbled, "How did you even find me? You can't see this side of the pitch from the school."

"I like-like to r-read on the b-bleachers, on m-my free's." Tina shrugged.

"I didn't you know liked reading." She stated, more to herself than to the other girl.

"Um... Y-yeah, anyway I j-just wanted to m-make sure you were okay." With that Tina turned and started to walk away.

"Wait, I've been wanting to ask you something!" Quinn shouted, something inside of her was telling her off for not waiting and keeping to her schedule but what could it hurt? She was only making it easier for the girl and helping her a few weeks earlier than it should.

"M-me?"

"Yes." Quinn said stiffly, "Your stutter, why do you fake it?"

Tina's jaw dropped, she'd been so careful and never let the cover down. She'd even taken to stuttering at home, she'd become so used to it. It baffled her beyond belief, that her _once_ bully had notice and called her up on it.

"W-what?" The girl asked, looking slightly worried.

"Seriously? My... _Cousin_... Has a stutter, so I know all about them and treatments and what not," she waved off the end of the sentence before continuing, "and you're a total fake." Quinn really had tried to be less short with her but her bitchy side just came out sometimes.

"I-I don't know w-what you're t-talking about." Tina stepped backwards.

Quinn sighed, disappointed with herself.

"I didn't mean it to sound so harsh, I just think that you shouldn't have to hide who you are. That's what makes us unique right? Be yourself and you'd be surprised how many people will accept you, you're a really nice girl Tina and you deserve to be happy and not having to be someone you're not." Her speech shocked the shy girl before her, she could see Tina processing her words so she mentally high fived herself for actually doing her first good deed, that was if it worked.

"Do you really think that?" Her voice was quiet but Quinn had heard it.

"Yes!" The blonde gave her a small smile, "Be yourself..."

"I'm scared of telling everyone though."

"Then how about, we keep it just between us for a while then?" She asked whilst digging through her bag for her phone, she checked the time once she found it, "... We still have a bit of time left before next class starts, you can sit with me if you want?"

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to interrupt you reading..." She trailed off until Quinn lifted her book and Tina was able to see the spine of the novel, "The Time Machine, huh."

"What's wrong with a little H.G. Wells? It is a classic." Quinn placed the book down on her lap, feeling protective.

"Oh I just didn't expect you to read something like that." Tina smiled.

"Well, I'm going through a bit of a Time Traveling phase at the moment. But, you can sit with me, I'm done anyway." She told the goth who happily accepted, although Tina was still a little unsure on whether to trust the ex-cheerleader but she was willing to give her a chance and that's all Quinn needed, a chance. "Anyway, enough about what I'm reading, what were _you_ reading?" Quinn asked to get Tina engaged into a conversation.

oOo

Glee went as Quinn had expected when Puck preformed a song dedicated to Rachel, whilst watching the time traveler found herself clinging onto each side of the chair, preventing herself from doing anything stupid. _God, I really want to kick him, like in the face!_ The thing that annoyed her most was that as much as she would like to sing songs and tell the small brunette her feelings, she couldn't, it had to remain a secret until the perfect time.

In the end Mr. Schue dismissed the teenagers and the students and teacher filed out quickly, all having things to do. Everyone but Puck and Quinn left the room, the blonde waited for a moment as she watched her ex fumble around with his guitar case. Unable to stand the silence any longer, she stormed forwards.

"What are you doing?" Quinn's eyes were fiery with demand, getting straight to the point.

"Um... Putting my guitar away?" He frowned.

"Are you stupid?" She clenched her jaw, "I meant with Rachel, what are you doing with Rachel?"

"Are you jealous? Because there's a whole lot of the Puckerman to go around." He winked at her, attempting to seduce his crush.

"You're a jerk..." Quinn murmured, "Just end things with her, she deserves better than what you can give her."

"Why do you care?" He scratched the back of his head, "You hate Berry."

"I don't hate her, she's my friend and you're-" Pausing she tried to think up a way to explain, "Well you're you."

"You've changed." He said, pulling the strap onto his shoulder.

"Change can be good, Puckerman." With that she made her exit, once out of the door she turned and collided with a body. She let out a small scream, not expecting to run into somebody. Her hands shot out to stop herself from falling, having only been knocked on her side she was able to latch onto one of the locker's.

"Quinn, I'm so sorry, I didn't expect such an exit." The rush of words was familiar and when she glanced up with wide hazel eyes and her heart thudding loudly in her ears she was met with one Rachel Berry.

"Holy crap, you scared me." Quinn breathed in slowly, wiping down invisible dirt from her dress until she re-called the singer's words. "Wait, you didn't expect such an exit?"

"Oh, w-well, yes." Rachel looked down at the floor, "I overheard yours and N-noah's conversation and may I say, our relationship has nothing to do with you Quinn. Thank you very much for trying to save me from any harm but I don't understand what you are getting out out this..."

"I care about you, It's not about me Rachel." Quinn bit her lip and felt a blush on her cheeks, "You deserve to be happy, Puck can't do that."_But I can..._

Rachel couldn't reply, her mouth just opened and closed a few times without a word coming out. Quinn stood there, trying to be patient but was feeling extremely awkward. _Why does she look so confused? Is that a smile? Okay it's been about a minute now and she hasn't said anything... _Eventually Quinn lost her nerve to say anything else and with a small smile she walked away, hoping that she made a good enough impression on the girl of her dreams.

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**Please leave a review, even if it's just a little one! **

**The next chapter is going to have a more important Faberry scene, a Tina/Quinn movie marathon and some more Mike and Matt! :) **


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N: Crazy amount of feedback and I love it, please keep it up it make's my day! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm really in the mood to right at the moment so the next chapter should be up soon! **

**Thank you to superflyse on tumblr for helping me again! **

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Chapter Three: The truth

Quinn didn't know what she was doing. At sixteen years old, she was pregnant and before long would be kicked out of her home and disowned by her family. She had no money to pay for her medical bills and had no ideas on how to raise the funds she'd need. Obviously, she could have gone along the same lines as last time, but that wasn't what she wanted. Quinn couldn't put either Finn through that again, she just couldn't.

So, that's how she ended up in the girls bathroom, locked in one of the stalls with her arms wrapped around herself. She'd been hidden there since the moment she spotted Finn that morning. Whether it was just hormones, she wouldn't know, but the second his childish grin appeared on his face there was an overwhelming feeling of guilt that she felt in the pit of her stomach. That somehow this lead to tears, probably over the fact she was missing home or the overwhelming feeling she was going to screw this life up as well.

_I have to fix this, I have to make this right._

Since then all she'd been doing was thinking over her options, whether she could keep Finn in the mix for a little longer, or maybe depend of Puck. Neither of which sounded appealing, but then again she was broke and had to pay the bills soon, before her parents find out.

Due to the fact the time traveler was too caught up thinking over her situation, she missed the sound of the bathroom door opening. She would later regret not going somewhere more unexpected.

"Quinn? Are you in here?" Rachel's voice, of course it had to be her, the one person she didn't want to see right now in fear of admitting everything to Rachel.

"I'm fine though, you should go back to class." The pregnant teenager told her, hoping it would get the girl to leave.

"Have I done something wrong, Quinn?" The singer's voice weaker than usual.

"It's not you, I promise."

"Then why won't you come out here?" Rachel asked, dejectedly.

Quinn groaned, "because, I don't want to talk to anyone right now."

"I'm not just anyone..." The diva's voice was barely audible, but sighed and continued in a stronger tone, "You looked out for me with Puck and now I want to return the kindness, please talk to me."

"You're so stubborn." The blonde rolled her eyes and got to her feet, and pulled open the stall door.

Rachel stepped closer, her hands reached out. Quinn took in a shuddering breath as the two smaller hands swooped down, and entwined their fingers together.

"What-wha are you doing?" Quinn asked, her pulse speeding up at the contact.

"You've been crying." Rachel whispered, her eyes full of compassion.

"Hormones." The time traveler told her.

"I don't believe you."

"Of course you don't."

"Stand here." Rachel said as she pulled her over to the sink, letting go of the blondes hands.

"Why?" Quinn muttered, unhappy with the loss of contact.

Instead of answering, the brunette turned her back on Quinn and started rooting through her bag.

The blonde waited, trying to come up with an excuse to leave. Her thoughts were interrupted by Rachel facing her again, this time with a handful of paper towel's in her hand. She could only watch as the singer ran them under the faucet and then lifted her hand to Quinn's cheeks, which were slowly a deep red.

_Seriously, since when did you blush? _

"I want to help," Rachel said with a shy smile, "I care about you."

Quinn couldn't help but grin knowingly as the girl recited her own words, "For now, you might."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The diva looked into her hazel eyes, making her heart beat faster.

"It means you're going to be pissed-"

"Language." Rachel scolded and then nodded for her to continue.

"You're going to be _annoyed_ with me soon." Quinn corrected herself, looking down at the floor.

"You can't predict the future, Quinn."

"No, but I know when I've done a bad thing." The ex-cheerleader chewed on her lip nervously, "...and I know how you're going to react when you find out."

"What have you done?" Rachel stepped a little closer, ignoring how Quinn's breath hitched.

"I can't tell you, you'll hate me." The blonde uttered, playing with her fingers to avoid looking directly at her crush.

"Trust me, please."

There was a silence that lasted around half a minute, but felt like so much longer to both the girls. Rachel was patient and waited for an answer and at some point she reached out and held Quinn's hand, squeezing just enough to let the other girl know she was there for her.

"...It's-It's n-not Finn's baby."

"What?" Rachel frowned, sure that she'd misheard her.

"It is not Finn's baby," Quinn's voice wavered and her eyes filled with tears, "Rachel, even though care about you deeply, you will never hate me as much as I hate myself for this. I-I know what I did was wrong but I had to lie, if anyone found out the truth I'd be humiliated!"

"But... How could you do that to him?" The singer slipped her hand out from Quinn's took a step backwards.

"No, please don't hate me."

"I-I don't understand, you-you said that you changed a-and yet you lied to that poor boy about being the father of your baby!" Her words were rushed and Quinn felt her heart breaking more and more with every word.

"I'm going to fix it, I just need time." She begged, trying to reach out for the girls hands but Rachel jerked away.

"Don't." Rachel said forcefully, "I just-I can't believe I actually listened to you and broke up with Puck. You made him out to be not good enough for me, how can you say that about someone when you're no better?"

"I am better!" Quinn whimpered, "I'm _really _trying to make this all better."

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe you." Rachel's voice was strong and full of disappointment, and Quinn knew she'd messed up everything with the girl. The time traveler was frozen in place, watching as Rachel grabbed her belongings and left the room, avoiding all eye contact. Quinn just stood looking at the door, longing for the girl to return.

oOo

"Deep breaths, I don't think it'll be good for the baby if you pass out." Tina smiled encouragingly as she leaned against the choir room door. She had been stood trying to encourage Quinn to actually go inside since the beginning of the break and now there was only five minutes left before third period, which turned out to be Glee.

"He's going to be _so_ upset." Quinn said, looking through the glass in the door. Finn was inside, sat behind the drums and eagerly waiting for his girlfriend to arrive. After her talk with Rachel, all she could think about was the last time and how badly Finn was hurt and this time she just hoped that her telling him in person may make things a little better.

"Whatever you need to tell him can't be _that_ bad." The Goth said, sure of herself.

"Oh, it is." Quinn argued.

"Okay... But I mean come on, what's the worst that could happen?" Tina replied, hoping it would calm her new friends nerves.

"He could throw a chair at me..." Quinn mumbled and twisted the handle, "Well, wish me luck."

"Luck!" Tina beamed, crossing her fingers as she watched the blonde open the door and step inside.

"Quinn, you're here. What took you so long?" Finn stood up and made his way towards her, but not without stumbling over a few leads.

"I was talking to Tina." She waved away the question, "Look, we need to talk."

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"Finn, please can I just explain what's going on first, before you jump to conclusions." Quinn almost begged, she really wanted to get everything out of the way.

"Alright." He said, sitting down whilst Quinn took the seat beside him.

"Please don't hit me." The girl pleaded, having not done this speech before it was harder than she'd thought.

"I'd never hit you, Quinn."

"Just remember that." She told him and then took in a deep breath, remembering Tina's advice, "...It's about the baby."

"I told you, I'll find the money when I can." Finn groaned, he'd been pestered by her to get a job and he really didn't want to have to listen to another speech.

"No..." She paused, "It's-Well... She's n-not... Yours."

"I don't understand."

Quinn gulped loudly, "I made a mistake, I wasn't thinking straight and I drank too much..."

"What are you saying?" He frowned, trying to get his head around what she'd just said.

"The baby isn't yours, I'm so sorry."

"WHAT?" Finn shouted, jumping to his feet.

The girl winced, "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying Sorry, It's not good enough!" He yelled back, slamming his foot into a nearby chair. "I can't believe you did this to me, who is it? Who did you cheat on me with?"

She was honestly a little scared, not for her but the baby. But she stayed quiet, just looking at him with an arched eyebrow. She knew that in a matter of days, the boy would actually turn out to be relieved to not be the father.

Finn growled, "Who is he? The dad? The _real _dad."

"I-" Luckily for Quinn, she didn't get the chance to answer as the gleeks all started to walk through the door. Tina pointed to some seats at the side, Quinn agreed with a small smile and followed the girl but not before trying to apologize to Finn again but before she could her presumably ex-boyfriend was storming out the door.

Kurt and Mercedes both gave each other a look and then rushed over to Quinn, needing all the gossip of why the favourite couple at McKinley were having a lover's quarrel. Puck walked over to his chair at the back with a smug smile, hoping that he'd now have a chance with the girl. The only other person Quinn noticed was Rachel, who sat on the opposite side of the room, looking straight a head. All the blonde wanted was to walk over there and tell her how sorry she was, how she'd do anything to make it better.

The rest of glee went by quickly, Mr. Schue told everyone about the bake sale and how everyone needed to support Artie. Then the wheelchairs were brought in and the memories came flooding back to her.

_This is going to be a really long week._

oOo

Quinn's day had been exhausting. She spent her day trying to find Rachel, in hopes to explain her situation but by the time lunch came around she'd had no luck and all Quinn wanted to do was go home and maybe hibernate until the baby was born.

Yet that didn't go exactly to plan, Matt and Mike had followed her after their class together to the library and questioned her, wanting to know if her friendship with them was just a rouge to get them on her side. But after a short while, they realized her intentions for telling Finn about the baby weren't all that bad. They spent the rest of their free time trying to helping to sort out her money problem, since all she could do was panic over the bills. That was until Matt remembered that a bookshop he went with with his grandfather was looking for a new cashier.

After that, the jock made a call and the interview was set up. The boys agreed to meet after school in the parking lot once the day was finished, happy to accompany her to the shop.

"Road trip!" Matt yelled, the top half of his body sticking out of the sun roof of the car.

"It's a fifteen minute drive." Quinn laughed, climbing into the back seat.

"He gets excited really easily." Mike whispered under his breath so the other teenager didn't hear.

"Is it okay if we get coffee while we wait for you?" Matt asked, sitting back down in the passenger seat, "I know this great place just around the corner from the shop."

"Okay, Just as long as you don't leave me there." The ex-cheerleader said, as she buckled herself in and once she was done double checking her belt for any safety issues they set off. Although the boys were a little confused by how noticeably uncomfortable the girl was by being in the car, they didn't question her behavior, and just tried to make her feel less panicked by filling the car with music.

"Are you ready?" Mike asked, parking just in of the bookshop.

"I guess." Quinn nodded reluctantly, looking out of the window.

"Just relax, he'll love you." Matt smiled warmly, getting out of the car and opening Quinn's door. "We'll walk you in, how about that?"

"Thank you." She grinned widely and took his outstretched hand. Mike was on her other side and before she knew it they were walking into the building. They both gave Quinn a little push in the direction of the counter, wished her good luck and left her alone.

_You can do this, you can totally do this! You're Quinn Fabray, and you will get this job, you just have to for Beth. For Beth._

Quinn looked around, taking in the bookshops appearance. It was old but well looked after, there were several shelves that were neatly stacked, each with one of those ladders so they could reach the top. She walked around, her finger tracing the spines of the classics she'd read so many times. Quinn had never been more thankful to have found a place like this, it was almost magical. She continued forwards until she found a spiral staircase.

The time traveler felt at home for the first time since the crash. Her eyes were wide with amazement as she gazed around the second floor. There were more bookcases, but the thing that caught her eyes was the small lounge area and the coffee machine to the side.

I really want this job.

"Miss Fabray, I presume." A voice came from behind her, she jumped around, her hand over her heart. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's my own fault, I was being nosy." Quinn smiled weakly at the older man before her. He looked to be in his late sixties, thankfully he didn't look scary, quite the opposite actually.

"You were being no such thing," He grinned and nodded to the sofa, "so, how do you like my shop?"

"I love it." She replied honestly.

"I'm glad," The man sat down, crossing one leg over the other, "My name's Peter by the way, Peter Adamson."

"It's nice to meet you, thank you so much for this opportunity." Quinn said formally, wanting to make a good impression.

"Well, I really only have a few questions for you if that's okay?" Peter raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, that's fine."

"Okay..." He paused for a moment, looking down at his lap thoughtfully, "What book are you reading at the moment? And if you say Twilight, I can tell you now you don't have the job."

"Oh," She giggled lightly, "Um, The Time Machine." She stammered, having not expecting a question like that.

"That's a good book." Peter stated.

"It really is, I've really gotten into time travel books and it's my favorite so far." She spoke enthusiastically.

The old man grinned as he listened to the young girl, "And why are you interested in this job?"

"...I really need the money," She saw his smile falter so she continued a little faster and more passionately, "and I love to read so I thought working here would be perfect, books are my getaway."

"I have one last question for you and I want you to be completely honest." He told her, looking into her eyes and seeing how they shone as shone, "Tell me something about books, something that makes them appeal to you."

Quinn bit her lip as she tried to think of a way to explain, but when she saw the look the old man was giving her, it told her that he wanted an original answer, one he hadn't heard before. "Well, they smell _really_ great."

"Miss Fabray." The bookkeeper gave her a blank look and then his face exploded into a huge smile, "When can you start?"

oOo

After all the drama that day, Quinn was relieved to be laying on her couch, ready and waiting for Tina to arrive so they can start their movie marathon. Every now and again she would take a piece of popcorn, throw it into the air and catch it in her mouth. Yes, she was extremely bored, trying hard not to give in and watch the movie without the other girl.

A knock on the door interrupted her tempting thoughts. Quinn moved to the door eagerly, but as she pulled it open she was faced with an empty doorway. It wasn't until her eyes fell to the floor that she understood, sitting on top of the doormat was a plate of cookies and a note.

The blonde brought them inside, placed them on the coffee table and picked up the little letter.

_'You did the right thing, I thought my special sugar cookies may make you feel a little better – Rachel*'_

Her heart fluttered as she read the words again. _Does this mean she still cares about me? _Either way, Quinn was just happy that the girl wasn't angry anymore, which gave her the chance to make it right.

"Quinn?" Tina's voice called through the still open door.

"Hey, come in." The ex-cheerio smiled, walking over and shutting the door, "How was the date?"

"Really good..." She trailed off, "Then I told him the truth about my stutter."

"Do you need someone to bitch to, because I've had a really bad day myself and I could do with someone to vent to." Quinn asked and then pointed to the small table before them, "I also have cookie's to cheer us up."

"I have breadsticks." Tina lifted the bag of food onto the table.

"Okay, I think, you win." Quinn chuckled and grabbed for the remote, "Ready to start?"

"Yep." Tina nodded, "You know, if someone had told me that I'd one day be sitting in Quinn Fabray's home, about to have a _Back to the Future _marathon, I would have called them crazy."

"Funny how things work out, huh?" The time traveler agreed with amusement as the movie started and their conversations about boys along with it. All she could do was sit back and enjoy the first positive thing to come since the crash.

_Maybe I can turn this thing around after all..._

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**Next chapter: Faberry scenes, more cuteness rather than angst. Drama in the Fabray household and Quinn starts her new job and bumps into someone unexpected from McKinley...**

**Review? **


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N: Hello readers, sorry for the late update, had to help my best friend through a bit of a rough time. Anyway, I should tell you that I lied a little last chapter and promised no angst, but I did give you guys some Faberry to even it out!**

** So I hope you like this chapter! Thank you to superflyse for all the help and to everyone whose reading this story!**

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Chapter Four: It's worse than before

As Mr. Schue scrawled the word ballad on the board all her memories of upcoming events rushed back to Quinn, she remembered the next few days so well even if she'd tried to block them from her mind it didn't stop her recalling the chastity dress fitting, the dinner with her parents and Finn and strangely enough she retained the memory of Rachel crushing on Mr. Shue. So when Glee came around, the pregnant teenager couldn't help but become irritated with the thought of Rachel liking anyone but her. She knew it was stupid, since it only lasted a few days but it had put her on edge and so as she sat down next to Mike, Quinn tried to come up with a plan to stop the tiny diva from being partnered with their teacher.

_Okay, think Quinn think! _The girl bit her lip in concentration, using the few minutes whilst the late comers of the club trailed in to figure something out. Yet all her effort eventually went to waste when it became apparent that Finn wasn't going to turn up._ I must have really hurt his pride if he's not coming to Glee._

Luckily for Quinn, since Matt was off ill and although she knew that she should call her new friend, all her focus was on the fact that the numbers were even and she decided that checking up on the Jock would have to wait. When Mr. Schue finished the explanation of the task, Puck stood up and made his way to the front of the room and just like last time, he picked out Mercedes' name from the hat of fate. Next up was Artie, he rolled himself forwards and the pregnant blonde slumped back in her chair as he called out her name.

Tina was next up, her expression dropping as she made her selection, "Other Asian..." The Goth said with slight irritation. Quinn covered her mouth with her hand, trying to suppress her laugh, finding both of her friends reaction's hilarious but wanted to seem sympathetic.

Quinn then kicked Kurt's chair, trying to rush him so the lesson could be over and done with. The boy sent a quick annoyed look back but continued onward, putting his hand in the hat and drawing out one of the pieces of paper quickly.

"Rachel." The boy said a little disgruntled.

_Damn it, why does he get her? _She cursed silently, still irritated that fate hadn't put her and Rachel together. In the end it was only Santana and Brittany left and so they were obviously matched together.

Kurt raised his hand a little after the pairs were selected and Rachel was quick to put herself forwards with Mr. Schue to demonstrate an example of a ballad. Quinn sat in a silent annoyance, knowing there was nothing she could do to prevent them singing together which had previously been the way Rachel developed feelings for the older man.

_Perfect, absolutely perfect. _Quinn thought forlornly, _I wish she was singing to me. _

Much to the time travelers surprise, her wish came true and the ballad went nothing like it had before. It started with both leads singing to one another but as the song went on, Rachel cast a quick look around the room until her eyes locked with Quinn's in a smouldering gaze and from that moment neither of them could turn away and all her worries about Finn and his disappearing act were long forgotten.

Neither of the girls noticed, as the rest of the gleeks attention settled on them, watching them in awe as the two supposed enemies _eye-fucked _each other in the middle of the room.

_What is she doing to me? _Quinn asked herself, her breath escaping her as Rachel's eyes flickered down to her lips as she stepped closer. _Oh dear god!_

The blonde's hands flew out to the sides of her chair, tightening her grip as the diva sung directly to her. It was as it time had stopped and it were only the two of them left in the room, forgetting completely about the others. Quinn couldn't even hear Puck as he simply stated, "_So hot." _as he sat on the top row of the risers.

Her next action was uncontrollable, she just _had _to see what Rachel would do. So she snaked the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip, slowly and teasingly. Unfortunately for the ex-cheerleader, she missed whatever reaction she may have possibly caused when she was brought out of her trance by Mr. Schue clapping his hands and stopping the song.

"Okay, something like that,," He unsteadily proclaimed, unsure of what else to do.

"Um, I-yes..." Rachel trailed off, her blush darkened and she spun around on the balls of her feet, walking to the other side of the room to sit next to Kurt with her eyes now peering down at the floor. The gleeks were soon after dismissed and Quinn was quick to exit the room, the girl took the few seconds she had alone to draw in a shaky breath, only just getting over the girl's performance.

"So..." Tina appeared beside her.

"What?" The ex-skank asked, seeing the smug smile the girl was directing at her.

"Nothing." Tina trailed beside her friend, her voice turning into a whisper, "_Quinn and Rachel, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-"_

The blonde groaned and pushed her friend away from her, the Goth was forced to stop singing the rhyme but only because she was laughing that she was finding it difficult to breathe, let alone finish the song. _At least Rachel was looking at me when she was singing, that has to be a step in the right direction at least..._

oOo

Going home that night, Quinn was met was an overly eager mother and a dress hung on her door. She took her time to change, mentally preparing herself for the conversation between herself and her mother. _Just breath, It's going to be fine._

Her mother walked in, taking in the image of her daughter in the white dress and sighed happily.

"Oh sweetie, I'm so proud of you." The woman cooed, adjusting the bottom of the dress slightly, "The chastity ball is so important to your father."

Quinn saw her mother taking a sip from her glass, the teenager cringed and held back a remark. _She's going to notice, it's now, she figures it out now! _She bit her lip nervously, her panic starting to build when her mom, stood back up and started to zip up the dress.

"Huh, that's odd, we had this custom made a month ago." The woman muttered, trying just one more time to seal the dress before giving up.

"I had a really big lunch today at school, really big tacos." Quinn knew the excuse was unbelievable, but as she stood with her mother looking at her with that hint of disappointment, the pressure got to her and she ended up reciting exactly what she'd said last time.

Judy paused, her expression was blank. "No worries sweetie." She smiled, "We'll just take it down to the tailor tomorrow and let it out a little bit."

The woman moved a piece of Quinn's hair behind her ear and the ex-cheerleader could see the sadness in her mother's eyes, "The problem here honey is, I-I don't think you've been getting enough exercise ever since you quit the cheerios, am I right?"

"Yeah-yeah that's right." Quinn agreed, nodding her head and watching her mom through the mirror as she circled the tape measure around her waist.

"I mean, you used to spend hours everyday doing back flips and high kicks and now, I mean now you spend all your free time sitting on a stool in the dark singing show tunes." She stopped just In front of the teenager, ignoring the wateriness off the younger girls eyes and continued, "Do you know how many calories you burn singing? Not very many."

"JUDY!" A loud man's voice boomed from another room in the house, Quinn turned and breathed in slowly, "Hold on," The man grinned, wobbling slightly on his feet, "Oh, I don't wanna see."

"...Daddy, we're not getting married." The time traveler told her father, her hands balling as he kissed her cheek and then moved backwards for a better look. _I hate him, look at him, he only cares about his reputation and letting everyone know he was the perfect daughter._

"Oh look at you." He said as he took a seat with his wife on the back of the leather sofa, "speaking of marriage, how's that boy you've been dating?"

"W-we broke up." Quinn spoke hesitantly.

"He wasn't pressuring you was he?" Judy raised her eyebrow.

"No-No!" She shook her head.

"Then why are you not seeing him any more?" Her father's tone now lowered.

"W-we just didn't fit." The pregnant girl tried to explain but when she saw her father's frown she decided to run with another idea, "he's also getting kicked off the football team soon, so my popularity would be put at risk."

"Good move, sweetheart." Her father gave her a nod, "We need to think about the family name and how people see us, you need to be dating a man with a future.

"Yes, daddy." Quinn replied quietly, waiting until she was alone to turn back to the mirror. _This is about to get complicated. _She let her eyes slide shut as she wondered what the future would bring now things are starting to change.

oOo

Her next day at school went by quickly and uneventfully. When the bell sounded for the end of the day Quinn found Mike by his car and persuaded him to drive her to work. Promising that they could stop off by the comic book store on the way, he agreed.

_Okay, It's your first day, make a good impression. _Quinn told herself as she walked into the book shop, smiling instantly as she spotted Peter stacking a shelf in the far corner of the room. The old man turned around at the sound of the bell above the door, alerting him of the teen's arrival.

"Hello Quinn, can you give me a hand?" He turned to look down at her from the top of the ladder, pointing at the small pile of books to his side.

"Sure." The girl nodded, making her way over and handed them up, one by one.

"Thank you, dear."

"No problem, that's what I'm here for, right?"

"Absolutely." He agreed and then pointed to another set of books, "Can you set those up in the window display, please?"

Quinn walked over and picked up the publications, taking her time to place them down neatly. Just as she finished up, the girl heard the door open and close but was too busy to see who it was that entered, that was until she saw the customers reflection in the glass.

"Karofsky." She muttered, turning around slowly until she came face to face with the tall boy.

"Fabray-" He was cut off when the girls arms wrapped around his neck.

The time traveler wasn't sure exactly why she did it, but as she looked at the jock, all she could think of was his suicide attempt and the relief it was to see him stood before him with his forehead creased.

"What the hell?" The boy shrieked in surprise, feeling surprised beyond belief that Quinn Fabray was hugging him. Although, he didn't really have a problem with her, it was still weird since they'd never really been friends.

_Holy crap! _Quinn retracted her arms and moved away the moment she realized what she was doing. _I can't believe I just did that, you're supposed to be acting normal or at least believable, I can only imagine what he's thinking right now._

"I'm so sorry," she said slowly, stepping further backwards, hoping that the distance would make the situation a little less awkward for the pair of them. It didn't.

"You just hugged me." He stated with a frown, "Why did you do that?"

"...Um, would you believe that I'm just happy to see you?" She asked.

"No." He deadpanned, folding his arms and looking anywhere that wasn't Quinn.

"Well, that's what I'm going with." She replied, walking over to the counter blushing brightly. He followed after her, since there was nothing else he could do.

"I was just, um picking up a book." He stuttered, embarrassed that he couldn't think of anything to day.

"What book was it?" Her eyebrow arched, questioningly.

"_Northern Lights_, from _His Dark-_"

"_Materials._" Quinn finished, "I know, I've read them, they're really good."

Although Karofsky was fighting a smile, Quinn caught it. _Maybe this is a sign, if I can befriend him, then, I might be able to help him through coming out._

"D-don't give me any spoilers." He rushed, not wanting the book's ending to be ruined.

"I won't." She laughed lightly, "You know, we have a coffee machine upstairs so if you ever want to maybe get some peace and quiet, you should just come here."

"...Y-yeah, I might do that." He shrugged, although he knew that he'd probably take her up on the offer quite soon.

"Right." She shook her head with amusement, knowing it would take more than one try to win him over but also looking forward to having the chance to do it.

Without bothering to make further conversation, Quinn directed the Jock upstairs to the Fantasy genre and told him whereabouts he would be able to find the book. Not long after, Karofsky returned down the stairs, paid and left the shop.

_Now to just make it through the rest of the day..._

oOo

Quinn walked up to her front door slowly, dragging her feet along the floor._ I'm so tired, I think I could sleep for a month._

"Mom?" She called entering the house, taking off her bag from her shoulder and placing it by the stairs to take up later. When she stepped into the dining room she instantly knew something was wrong and as her head turned painfully slowly to the far side of the room she was met with the sight of Finn. _Oh no no no no no!_

This wasn't the way she'd planned it, everything was going so well and now, it would all come crashing down. The mixed looks of disappointment and disgust on her parents' faces said it all, they knew, Finn had told them, she was about to lose it all again.

Her heart rate increased and she found herself short of breath and yet all she could do was stand and stare in silence, knowing her fate was inevitable but doing nothing to fight it.

"Mr. Hudson tells me you have something to say to us, Quinnie," Her father said, his face blank giving off no emotions, "what have you done?"

"N-nothing, it's nothing daddy!" She answered him weakly. The first time she went through this was once too much, Quinn couldn't believe she was having to do it all again, it physically drained her of everything.

"Stop lying, just tell the truth for once!" Finn growled, slamming his fist onto the dining room table.

"Someone explain to me what is going on, now!" Russell demanded, his eyes burning into Quinn's.

There was a short moment were the time traveler looked at the jock with watery eyes, begging silently for him to not give her up. She wasn't ready, it was so much harder in life than it was on paper. The plan was to keep it a secret for just a little while longer until she found somewhere to stay, but the crooked smirk on the teenage boy's face told her she wasn't going to get her way.

"Mr. Fabray, your daughter is pregnant." He snarled, his eyes never leaving Quinn's and after he spoke, he got up from where he was sitting and decided now was the right time to leave.

"Where do you think you're going, we're not done!" Mr. Fabray's nostrils flared at the boys rudeness.

"Why should I, It's not like it's my baby, is it? Finn replied and the girl could see the small ounce of sadness in his tone.

"How could you?" Quinn croaked as he passed her.

"Karma's a bitch." Finn told her with a look of hatred.

"You don't even know what Karma is!" Quinn yelled back in his face, feeling her anger towards him burning in the pit of her stomach. He had never hurt her like this before, and that would include proposing to Rachel. Thanks to him she was about to be disowned and abandoned by her family and all because she tried to do the right thing and tell him the truth.

"Yeah well, I don't care, you're the bitch that cheated on me and you deserve everything you get." Her retorted and her expression dropped, _Is he right? Was all of this happening because of all the bad things you've done? _

Finn stopped briefly, taking one last glimpse at his ex-girlfriend, smiling as he watched a tear spill over and fall down her cheek, it was a smile that said,_ "I win."_

"Is he telling the truth?" Russell asked evenly, she could tell the only reason he was letting the boy leave was so he could get the truth out of her without any further interruptions.

She couldn't speak, she felt her throat close tightly and all that came out a was squeak. The teenager could feel more tears building but she blinked them away quickly, she didn't want her father to see her cry, she had to fight for whatever dignity she had left.

Her father shook his head and placed his hands over his wife's shoulder and said the two words that Quinn had been waiting for, "Get. Out."

"Daddy-" She whimpered, her hands and legs trembling.

"You have thirty minutes to pack your bags." The man said with cold anger, causing her to flinch although she had been completely prepared for the outburst since the moment she she stepped in the door to find her ex in her home. "Then I want you out of my house."

She backed out of the room unsteadily, not even bothering to argue because there was no point and she knew it. It took her less time to collect her stuff, since she was more prepared and had everything ordered a few nights ago, just in case. When she returned down the stairs, she saw her mother standing in the doorway, tears in her eyes. Quinn's only hope had been in her mother and all of that hope vanished as the woman turned away, clearly siding with her husband to turf out of their pregnant sixteen year old from her home.

_Why is this so much harder than last time?_

The younger blonde headed out into the cold, walking endlessly before finding herself outside of Tina's house. It took a few minutes for someone to open the door but when it finally did Quinn broke down, falling into the confused arms of Tina's mother who caught her and held her close, looking to her own daughter for help.

The gothic teenager moved and took her mom's place, "It's okay Quinn, it's going to be okay." _I'm not so sure... _

* * *

**Next chapter: Rachel tries to get someone's attention, some Matt, Tina and Mike and I think some Quick bonding.**

**Review? Tell me your thoughts, ideas for future chapters or maybe just something you like so far? :) **


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N: Hello readers, here's an extra long chapter for the long wait. ****Much more Faberry this time unlike in previous chapters and much more to come and in response to a review, yes if people are still reading this fic and are giving me feedback then I do hope for it to be long enough to introduce Blaine and others. I hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry if there's any mistakes I've had no sleep but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer.**

**Big thank you ****to superflyse and** anyone who has reviewed/alerted this story or added it to their favorites! :) 

* * *

Chapter Five: A whole new world

"Good morning, Quinn." An enthusiastic voice came from above her.

The pregnant blonde reply was muffled by her pillow that she was face-planting, "I don't feel very well, I think It may be best for me to stay home today."

"Sure, okay well I'll go and bin the bacon that my dad made for you before he went to work then." Tina waited and counted to five before the older girl turned to face her with a pout, knowing that she would never choose to fake an illness over free bacon.

"No, I... I want the bacon." She murmured before climbing under her sheets, "I just don't want to go to school today."

"You have to get out of bed at some point or another." Tina said forcefully, refusing to give up so easily.

"I've been out of bed this weekend." Quinn huffed, remembering the family meals she's been made to join. They were lovely to her and they welcomed her with open arms but it was weird for her, previously when she'd sit around a table with her parents it was awkward and they always made her feel like an outsider of the family whereas Tina's family would make small talk with her and try to get her to interact. It was nice, it was different.

"Who is it you're avoiding?" Tina asked her quietly, she knew there wasn't much point in asking since each time she had brought up anything to do with the subject the girl would change the subject. Maybe she was too upset to answer but she wanted to help and the Goth hoped that soon Quinn would feel comfortable enough to talk to her about it.

Whereas that wasn't exactly the problem with the time traveler, obviously she was upset but a part of her just didn't want to accept that it had all happened again and she didn't do enough to stop it, which forced her to question whether she'd actually be able to change anything this time round or if she was just setting herself up for failure a second time.

"I'm not _avoiding _anyone." Quinn answered icily, hating that she had to lie to who was probably her best friend. She wanted to tell her, she really did but it hurt too much and she couldn't bare to explain it all again and so she took to use the old HBIC approach, to push everyone away because that was the only way she knew how to deal with things, to do it alone.

"Everyone's going to notice when you don't come to glee today, what do you want me to tell them?" The Gothic girl wanted to help, but she only had a theory to what'd happened to her friend and until it was proved right she couldn't act on it, so she would wait and hopefully she'd find the answer soon.

"Just say that I'm sick."

"What if they want to check up on you?"

"Let them, I don't mind." She told her sadly. _It's not like anyone will want to see me anyway, not once Finn gets his giant paws into everyone and turn them against me... They're all going to hate me._

Tina paused and thought about what Quinn had just said, wondering why she was fine seeing everyone at the house but not at school. It was clear that she was trying to avoid someone, the only question was who. Both teenager girls eyes locked and a silent agreement was made not to talk anything more about it, so with a sigh Tina said her goodbyes and left the bedroom, telling her where the spare key was if she were to go anywhere.

The time-traveler knew she had to face the world sooner or later, and although she favoured the latter she chose that today she would face the world and sat up, dangling her feet off the side of the bed. She couldn't help but notice the slight swelling on her ankles, which caused her to hesitate for just a moment as she was about to stand up. Slowly Quinn moved her hand to rest her palm gently on her baby bump, her fingers grazing over her skin.

_I forgot how much I missed her..._

Quinn closed her eyes, feeling the tears that had pooled fall down her cheeks and land on the back of her hand. She remembered the drama with Shelby, how she messed up and lost Beth because of her own selfishness.

_I don't want to let her go again..._

Her bottom lip trembling as she held onto the memory of the tiny child in her arms for the first time, the only thing she could focus on was the fantasy of keeping her child and what that would do to her future, surely not Yale... _And not Rachel._

oOo

Across town Tina and the rest of the Gleeks had just finished watching the Jane Adams Glee Club perform and each and every one of the New directions left the room with the solid feeling of doubt, all apart from Rachel.

"So, what did everyone think?" The Jewish diva asked, taking the place at the front of the room as the rest of the students took a seat's on the risers. They'd all returned to the choir room quickly after the performance, wanting to discuss the obvious problem of the lack of hairography in their own dance routines.

"They were _really _good." Finn shrugged, not knowing what more he could say to describe it.

The boy had returned to glee that day with a feeling that his ex-girlfriend wouldn't show, his feeling had been right and he felt a sense of pride when he's noticed her absence.

"They have _so _much hair." Brittany commented, more to herself than anyone in particular.

Rachel nodded, her eyes scanning over everyone and saw the same disheartened look on each of their faces, "Look, we all just have to step it up."

"What's your plan, Berry?" Santana asked snidely, leaning back in her chair and lifting her leg's so they were resting on top of Brittany's lap.

"I-I don't have one perfected _quite_ yet..." Rachel trailed off, moving her hands to entwine them behind her back.

"We're doomed." Kurt sighed dramatically, saying exactly what everyone was thinking.

"Not yet, we all just need to come together." The tiny girl said, trying to lift all their spirits.

A few minutes later they were all still waiting for Mr. Schue to return from talking to Miss Pillsbury and Rachel found it to be the perfect moment to snap her fingers and call Tina over to sit with her. The other girl wasn't exactly happy to be pulled away from her conversation with Matt and Mike but she knew Quinn had a new-found soft spot on her and if Quinn could learn to like her then she surely could.

"What is it Rachel?" Tina asked as politely as she could.

"I was just wondering where Quinn was today?" Her tone full of worry made the other glee member question her motives but didn't have time to ask since the moment she opened her mouth Finn chose to interrupt.

"Why should you guys care?" He snapped, causing everyone's attention turn to him. "She's just going to use you like she did me."

"She's our friend." Tina said, her voice wavering slightly, a little afraid of the tall Jock.

"Since when?" He retorted, glaring at the Goth which in return earned him a piercing look from both Matt and Mike, who were on the edge of their seats ready to take down their football captain if he took anything too far, "She's only being nice to any of you because she's lost all of her other friend and you guys are the only people nice enough to give her a chance."

"I have to say, Quinn has become friendlier since the pregnancy but I am a little wary of whether she's just going to go straight back to bullying each of us once the babygate period is through." Kurt said carefully, he wasn't taking sides (even if his crush on the tall boy was telling him to do so) but the girls new behaviour was completely out of the blue and made him cautious of the future.

"We could say that about any of the Jock's though, the cheerio's too." Mercedes joined in, "Each of you have either thrown a slushie, called us names or at the very least for Mike and Matt you guys never stopped this either."

"Preach." Artie raised his hand.

"You guys are losers, not my fault I speak the truth." Santana said bluntly, but everyone ignored her comment since they were used to her attitude.

"Quinn's changed," Tina said loudly, her eyes flickering to Rachel for reassurance to see the girl send her a firm nod to continue and with a deep breath she did, "she's my friend and she's _really _been trying with all of you, so stop thinking the worst of her and realise that she's going through a really bad time right now and she needs friends by her side helping her through it, not enemies."

"She's right, as much as I hate to agree with _Tina,_ she has a point." Santana added, "Q's not the same old bitch we all knew and loved."

Rachel grinned to herself glad that the message was getting across to her fellow glee clubbers, "Exactly, Quinn has lost everyone and she needs us now more than ever."

"This is bullshit, why are you all taking her side, I thought you were _my_ friends." Finn whined, folding his arms in a huff.

"We're not taking sides, Finn." Rachel told him with a small smile, "Your issues with Quinn are yours, there not for us to get involved in."

He grumbled something under his breath before agreeing reluctantly to make Rachel happy, but he knew once Quinn was back at McKinley he wouldn't be so quick to give in.

oOo

Quinn was lounging on the sofa on the second floor of _The Open Book _where Peter had allowed her to hide out if she promised to return to work the following day, she'd been lay their for most of the day and she could safely say she was thankful for the time to herself that was away from anyone with questions for her, until she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Um... Quinn is that you?" The voice sounded unsure since the girl's face was covered by the book she'd fallen asleep reading.

"Puckerman?" She yawned, moving her copy of _The Time Travellers wife _onto the coffee table, making sure to slot In her bookmark to save her page, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to check out the comics and saw this book-" He tossed it to her, and she read over the cover with a broken smile, "and I figured I'd steal it for you, y'no in case you change your mind and decide you want to keep the baby."

Quinn could almost feel the boys nervousness around the topic, "_How to raise a baby on five dollars a day._" She hummed, "Well I'm earning more than that at the moment, but this is really sweet."

"You've got a job?" He arched his eyebrow, "Is that safe? You know... For the baby?"

"Yes it's safe. I work here stacking the shelves, doing the inventory and working the till sometimes so it's not much effort." She said looking over the book in her hand again, "You do realise you can't steal from here again? You're going to have to buy them."

"Can't you just turn your back for a minute?" He chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows.

"No." She dead-panned.

"Fine," He nodded, "It's cool that you're working, do you need the money or something?"

"Yes, I have medical bills to pay." She rolled her eyes at his idiocy.

"Oh yeah, well I can get you a bit of cash next week." He told her, and then felt a twinge of hope as he watched the blonde stroke over her belly without even realising she was doing so, "Are you thinking about keeping it or something?"

"I don't know, my mind is pretty messed up right now-" She shook her head, inhaling slowly.

"Well whatever you decide," He grinned and then added, "no pressure."

Quinn recalled babysitting for Terri's nephews with Puck last time, luckily she hadn't been bothered by the woman after she called her saying the deal was off. Since then she'd only received a bunch of texts telling her to take her time and think it through but she would be making a mistake. _Whether I keep Beth or not, that crazy Woman is not going anywhere near my child!_

"So, you gonna tell me why you ditched school today?" Puck shouted from the corner of the room, flicking through some comic books to see if there was any worth stealing when Quinn wasn't working there but the blonde was thinking along the same lines. _  
_

_If he tried to steal anything, I'm going to kick his ass. I don't care If I'm pregnant, I could take him... Or at least get Matt and Mike to rough him up a bit. _

"I wasn't feeling very well." She told him, praying that Tina hadn't blabbed. There was no way she could tell Puck about what'd happened with Finn, she just knew that he'd make a big deal about it and all she wanted to do was forget.

"Right," He drawled out, taking a seat on the opposite sofa, "I'm going to pretend I believe you because I'm tired and In the need of a nap but you know if you need me to beat on someone I'd do it for my baby momma."

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes with a small laugh, his teasing only reminded her of the Puck she's left behind, the older and more lovable one. Quinn knew he had a kind heart and she did want a friendship with the boy and hopefully if she tried hard enough she'd be able to help him get over his crush so they could do that.

The two of them stayed like that for another hour or so before Tina text her to inform her that dinner would be ready soon. Puck drove her back to Tina's believing that she was there for a movie night, Quinn thought about telling him the truth and then he went and asked her is she wanted a one night stand and she thought again but the truth was, something was finally going right.

_It's a whole new world you're living in Quinn, _She thought to herself,_ you just have to make it yours._

oOo

The next morning, Quinn was awake before anyone else in the house, greeting Tina with what seemed to be the first real smile since arriving there that weekend. For the first time in the last couple of days the ex-cheerleader was in a good mood, at least one that was willing her to go to school.

"Everything okay?" The Gothicly dressed teen went to steal a piece of bacon from the blonde's plate but when she saw the death glare she being sent, she thought twice and took one from her father's instead who willingly let her after he'd witnessed Quinn's obsession with the meat and didn't want any drama before he headed off to work.

"Yeah, are you ready to go?" Quinn asked cheerfully, lifting her messenger bag onto her shoulder. She'd spent the night before going over the last week in her head and concluded that she just had to put on a brave face and pretend like nothing was wrong, it's what she did best.

"Mhmm, Kurt's outside waiting for us now." She nodded, giving the girl a strange look, still wondering what had put her friend in such a mood.

"Oh okay, let's go then." Quinn pulled her friend by the hand towards the front of the house, laughing as she did.

"You're acting weird." Tina stated bluntly.

"No I'm not." Quinn argued, knowing that her friend meant well and was worried about her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm just-I'm happy." The time traveler gave her a crooked smile, "Me and Puck talked yesterday and I think we're moving forward."

After that no more was said about the matter, Tina agreed although she made a note to watch out for Quinn that day seeing as though she'd been through a lot and it would probably only take something small to make her crack and send her back to bed for another few days.

Thankfully Kurt was a good distraction for Quinn, he was eager to tell them about a surprise creation that they were sure to appreciate. Little did she know that Kurt had been approached by Rachel the day before asking for his help to get the pregnant girls attention.

The rest of the car journey she tried to think back to her previous life but was unable to remember what the surprise was, but she didn't have to wait very long before she walked right into it.

"Holy crap, I'm so sorry!" The pregnant girl exclaimed, having shoulder barged Rachel almost immediately upon entering the school.

"That's okay, Quinn." The diva waved away the apology with the flick of her wrist, then moved said hand to her hip. "So?"

"So what?" Quinn shook her head, not understanding with the girl was trying to get at.

"Do you like my new look." Then she noticed, _oh_ did she notice. Rachel smirked as Quinn's eyes roamed over her body, her cheeks bright pink and mouth slightly open.

"My god," The ex-skank whispered, "you look amazing."

"Wh-what?" Rachel asked quickly, not hearing the last part of the sentence but was desperate to do so.

"Nothing!" The other girl's eyes snapped up to Rachel's, her face burning with embarrassment, "I d-didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did." The brunette told her sharply.

"I think you're hearing things, I didn't speak." With that Quinn pushed past her and rushed down the hall to her locker, she was sure she'd been heading somewhere before she'd bumped into Rachel but now she was completely at a loss of where.

_Damn her and her impossibly long legs distracting me!_

"Take it you like Kurt's masterpiece then?" Tina joined her in her fast paced walk to the Choir room, giggling at how flustered her friend looked. "I had my suspensions after she basically sang that ballad to you instead of Mr. Schue last week and you've just completely proved them right."

"Stop it," Quinn demanded but there was no bite behind her words any more, not when she was talking to Tina.

"Just admit that you like her new look." The girl pushed her on her arm, urging her to give up since she knew the truth already.

"...You know I do." Quinn blushed.

"See, that wasn't so hard was it?"

"Please stop talking."

"But this is so much fun." Tina laughed, uncertain of how she missed seeing the girls attraction to Rachel before, it was so obvious.

"You're a terrible friend."

"I'm a fantastic friend." The girl retorted, pushing open the door to the classroom.

"Then stop teasing me." Quinn huffed, sitting down in one of the two empty seats beside Mike and Tina took her other one.

"Fine, but we have to talk about this soon." Tina lowered her voice so only they could hear.

"There's nothing to-" The blonde stopped mid sentence as Finn entered the room, she didn't know what to say as he took a seat just a few chairs down from her. _Is he being serious? He's just going to act like nothings wrong!_ But before she could say or do anything Mr. Schue walked in, late as usual with determination written across his face.

"Alright guys," The man cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "I did some thinking last night and I'm sure I've found our new number for sectionals. We're going to do the title song from _Hair,_ now this show, it started a revolution."

"Did they have Mohawks back then?" Puck asked, pondering how exactly he could take part with his hairstyle, "Like in the twenties or whatever."

Finn looked to the teacher, thinking along the same lines as his team-mate, "Yeah, If we're going to do a song about hair, then shouldn't we have more hair?"

"I'm one step ahead of you, here are your wigs." Mr. Schue beamed, throwing the bag in his hand to Finn.

"Mr. Schuester," Rachel was up on her feet before he could say anything more, she pulled him to the side, "what are you doing? We're fine as we are, we don't need hairography, it's just a distraction."

The Spanish teacher lowered his voice, "Look I have to be honest... Those Jane Adams girls did freak me out a little and I'm worried for our chances at sectionals, we have to pull out all the stops if we wanna win."

"Sorry Mr. Schue but Rachel's right, this isn't our thing." Quinn spoke up, last time, they completely humiliated themselves in front of Haverbrook Deaf Choir and she couldn't let it happen again, at least that could be something she'd changed for the better, "We can win without all this, it's just a distraction from the fact that we have what they don't and that's talent."

"You weren't even there, how do you know?" Finn spat, scowling angrily at his ex.

"Tina filled me in." Was Quinn's reply, she didn't hesitate as she lied, knowing that her friend would back her up if she needed her to, "Look, we just need something different."

"Since when did you even care about glee?" Finn again snapped at her, he didn't really care all too much about it either but he took the cheep shot, making it clear that he was going to do nothing but challenge Quinn for the rest of the meeting.

"Like you can say anything about caring, you hypocrite!" She yelled, finally breaking. "You ruined everything for me, I've lost everything." Whether it was her hormones or just the bitchy comments she couldn't take another minute of his attitude and cracked. _Why does he always have to be the good guy? It's not fair._

"What is she talking about, Finn?" Rachel asked looking down at the boy with confusion.

"Nothing-It's nothing just a little misunderstanding." His eyes flashing back and forth between the girls, if Quinn told the truth there's no doubt Rachel would be mad at him and then there was no way he'd stand a chance and he knew this.

"What did he do?" Rachel's faint voice came from beside her, her hand reaching out for Quinn's arm. The girls soft tone made the pregnant teenager's insides melt and with the combination of that and Rachel's thumb running ever so slightly over the back of her arm, her mind could only focus on the girl beside her who was standing on her tip toes and moving closer to Quinn. It wasn't until she felt the hot breath on her ear did she completely crumble, "Tell me what happened, please."

_Why can I never say no to Rachel?_ "My parents-He told my parents about the pregnancy."

"He did what!" Jaw dropped and eyes narrowed, Rachel pulled away from Quinn and headed straight towards the Jock, stabbing her index finger into his chest. "Finn Hudson, I am appalled, how could you do that to your friend? Whether or not she hurt you does not give you the right to do something _so mean_ right back," The diva turned around, her blazing eyes locked onto Quinn's hazel ones, "how did they take it?"

The blonde bit her lip, unsure of whether to tell her.

"Quinn, It's okay." Tina's soothing voice called from one side of the room, urging her friend to talk.

"They completely disowned me," She sniffed, trying hard not to blink so the tears forming wouldn't fall, "and kicked me out so I'm staying with Tina for the _moment._"

The Goth being mentioned was furious, finally being given the truth to why her friend showed up at her door breaking down in her arms. Instead of doing what she really wanted which was kicking Finn in the crotch, she walked down the risers and wrapped one of her arms around Quinn's side, just to let her know she was there and would protect her if anything happened.

"Oh Quinn, I'm so sorry." Rachel wanted to say more but felt as if it weren't her place, the two weren't close enough yet whereas some of the other glee members were.

"Hey, alright I'm sorry but she deserved it, she cheated on me." Finn pouted, feeling guilt build in the pit of his stomach, he didn't want to upset Rachel but his outburst only did the opposite.

"You have no right to say anything, not when you joined me on the stage in the Auditorium for a picnic a few weeks ago _and _we shared a kiss!" Rachel blurted and then gasped in horror at what she'd said, "Quinn, I'm so sorry, I realise how horrible it must be to hear that he cheated on you like this and I feel like I have been a terrible friend-"

"Stop, just stop Rachel." Quinn hushed her, "It's fine, I get it I really do."

"No you don't, I deeply regret what I did and-"

Quinn cut her off for a second time, "Then that's good enough for me."

"You're an ass, you have the nerve to do this to Quinn even after you betrayed her too." Puck snapped defensively, clenching his jaw and fighting off the urge to walk over to the boy and break his nose.

"Why do you even care so much?" The tall boy growled, everyone was turning on him and he didn't like it, not one bit.

"Because she's carrying my baby, you moron!" There it was, the truth everyone had been waiting to come out. Quinn flinched at the words and stumbled backwards and out of harms way, seeing the furious expression on Finn's face.

"What?" He screeched, jumping up from his seat with a death glare directed at Quinn.

"Back off man." Matt pushed him square in the chest, moving him away from the retreating blonde.

"Matt get Finn out of here before he does something stupid." Mr. Schue finally intervened, "Mike, can you help."

"Sure thing." The two boys caught either side of their football captain as he lunged for Puck, dragging him backwards as he threw threats at the Mohawk boy until they were out of the room. They didn't let him go until they were out by the back of the school, shoving him to the ground.

"What the hell?" He shouted as he hit the floor.

"Quinn's our friend, Finn." Mike said, standing over the now vulnerable looking boy.

Finn furrowed his brows in utter confusion, he just sat on the floor dumbfounded by the two Jocks towering over her. What exactly had changed with his ex-girlfriend he had no idea but something had changed, it was like she was a different girl all together and he didn't understand.

"Whatever," He muttered, looking down at his lap. "you two just want in her pants."

"Leave. Her. Alone." Matt growled through his teeth.

"Fine." Finn replied but it wasn't nearly convincing enough to stop the two other boys from their next move and hearing Puck's chuckle as he stalked out from the building and went to join in only urged them on. All three grabbed the now thrashing boy.

"Get off me!" He yelped, trying anything get out of their grip, but nothing worked and eventually they managed to drop him into the nearby dumpster.

"Don't mess with Quinn again." Puck said evenly, following his other team mates back into the school without another word. Himself and Finn had been friends for a long time and Finn knew that his threat wasn't empty so he didn't need to explain further.

Inside, Quinn had been taken to sit on the piano stool. The gleeks surrounded her and continually asked if she were okay, her reply each time was "_Yes" _even though she knew that she was far from okay.

"Can we please just focus on something else please?" Quinn practically begged, feeling uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Certainly." Rachel agreed, her hand touching the blondes back, trying to reassure her. "We can discuss the song choice, I really do think we should not go through with this number." The Tiny teenager ranted whilst moving her fingers to draw shapes that Quinn couldn't quite figure out.

"I don't know, Rachel-" Mr. Schue started.

"Can we just try another song and see whether you like it?" Quinn looked up to the teacher, "I have something we could do."

"Okay then, I don't see the harm in giving it a go." The man agreed unwillingly, but the pleading looks from his students changed his mind.

"So what song will I be singing, Quinn?" Rachel asked, jumping the gun.

"Actually, I was thinking you could maybe let Tina have this one?" The blonde waited for a Rachel Berry storm out as she demanded the number but none came, only a nod and a bright smile from the diva that caused he heart to flutter and her breath hitch.

_I'm starting to like being given this second chance..._

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**A/N: Finger's crossed you liked this, took a little longer to write since I found it more difficult than the rest. Let me know what you think so far, favourite friendships?**

**Next chapter: A geek-a-thon with Tina, Quinn, Matt and Mike. Some Brittana drama and the rest is a surprise but if you have any ideas feel free to tumblr me or something :) **

***Rachel's special sugar cookies for anyone who reviews* **


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N: Okay firstly on the cookie issue, I remembered that I'm probably the worst cook in the world, so much so that my little sister is giving me tutorials so that I survive in University. So instead I've got you guys another extra long chapter and an early update, which i thought you'd prefer. Love all the responses so much, makes me smile so much when i get a review! ****Lot's more Faberry here, the girls are getting closer and closer every day! **

**Thanks to Superflyse for all the help, really this would be terrible without her help. Any mistakes are mine and I've tried to spot my English vocabulary but I'm sorry if you see some! **

* * *

Chapter Six: Counting on Quinn

Quinn was stood at her locker when she received a message from Kurt, ordering her to the choir room. Before she headed off, she took a moment to open her locker and take out her notepad, the one she'd been careful not to forget when she was kicked out from her home. Inside there was the small calendar of events, her finger slid down the page, passing over all the titles with a _star sticker_ by their side until she found the most recent one.

_The yearbook photo, I forgot all about that._

But how could she forget, when previously she'd been the one to convince Sylvester to give them the page. It should have been one of the things at the top of her list, since it had made Rachel so happy last time it was a_ must_ to repeat it. So, she entered the meeting with a plan in her head, all she needed was the perfect moment for it to work. She spotted Finn before the others, he was sat by himself on one of the chairs, and not standing with the rest of the gleeks around the piano.

"Hey guys." She waved as she walked over, taking up the space between Mercedes and Puck, who'd moved around to help her fit. In the corner of her eye, she noticed Finn rushing to his feet to try and jump in but the rest of the students closed the gaps and forced him out. He stood for a minute towering over most of them, he would have been able to see if he'd just stayed where he was but it was clear he wasn't wanted so he returned to his heat with a groan. _That's strange..._

"What time do you call this?" Kurt scolded, "I sent you that text five minutes ago."

Quinn rolled her eyes at his dramatics, "I needed something from my locker, so I was on the other side of the school."

"She's pregnant dude, she can go slow." Puck said, protective of the woman carrying his baby, "We only got here on time because _you_ kidnapped us all after our classes."

"Right whatever," Kurt nodded so he could move on to the real reason they were all gathered there. Taking a brief moment to look around at his fellow team mates, "Rachel's not going to be here any time soon right? Anyone know where she is?"

"She stayed behind in our last class." Finn explained as he for a second time tried to involve himself with the group, barely lifting himself out of his chair when he was met with a few harsh looks and Kurt pointed back at the boys seat, snapping his fingers to hint that Finn needed to sit back down.

"Where's Rachel?" Kurt repeated.

"She's not here yet, she stayed behind in our last class." Puck answered, taking a second to look back at Finn with narrowed eyes.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked Kurt, finding amusement in the way Finn was being treated and the look of pure frustration written across his face.

The boy answered, lowering his tone so that only the people around the piano could hear, "Since we realised that if we ever stand a chance at Sectionals, we need Finn here until we find a replacement. So after coming together we decided that the best move would be to give him the silent treatment and ignore him for the best part."

"And he has no idea?" The blonde questioned.

"He does, Brittany told him." Kurt shrugged, giving the dancing blond a pointed look, "Maybe he'd figure that he's not entirely wanted, hopefully that'll be after the competition though."

"Guys can you speak up?" Finn shouted loudly, waving his arms around to catch someone's eye. He tried to come closer before but when Puck had clenched his fist he chose to put his safety first. The only reason that he was still there, was because he still hoped he could persuade Rachel into a date if he ever got a moment alone with her and not having Quinn pull her away before he got a chance to ask.

"Anyway, can everyone please be quiet." Kurt ordered, hitting his hand down on the piano top for silence, "We have a problem, this year's Thunderclap to be exact." Kurt took a deep breath, preparing for his long-winded speech, "Glee club stands on a delicate precipice, we have all felt the cold humiliation of a slushie in the face, but as of right now our relative anonymity as a club shields us from even more persecution." He shuddered at the thought, "Meaning, swirlies and patriotic wedgies."

"What's a patriotic wedgie?" Mercedes was afraid to ask, but she had to know.

"It's when they hoist you-" Finn started, but he was silenced with Artie clearing his throat.

"Ahem, It's when they hoist you up on the flag by your undies." The boy in the wheelchair commented, "Strangely it _did _make me feel more American."

A few people laughed lightly, only frustrating Finn more who was at this point on the brink of kicking a chair over to get someone to speak or listen to him.

"Anyway, based on my investigation," Kurt continued when there was a moment of silence, "I'm of the opinion that a yearbook photo, would only fuel the flames of anti glee club terror." He dropped a handful of different year's Thunderclaps onto the glossy surface, "I've done a little library research."

"Stop." Quinn, cut in as the well-dressed boy flipped over a few pages, knowing that if he finished his speech then she couldn't get her moment to convince them to fight for the picture, "Don't you understand?"

"What's there to understand, Juno?" Santana snapped, highly irritated that she was spending her free period in the Choir Room when she could be in the broom closet with Brittany, not that she could tell anyone that anyway.

The blonde rolled her eyes, ignoring the new head cheerleader, "That whether or not we're in the yearbook, we will _still_ get slushied and called names. But in a few years to come, when we've left McKinley, we may not _all_ still be friends or maybe we will, but we'll have the Thunderclap to look back and remember how New Directions brought us all together and made us a family, it gave us a place that _no matter_ what happened outside in the halls, we could come together and belong."

Everyone's eyes were on her, they had to admit it, the girl had a good point.

"One day, we _will _win Nationals, I truly believe that one day we will. So, I'd like to be able to remember how we started." Quinn smiled happily and looked to Tina, "How we became friends," She turned to Puck with partly serious scowl, "how we made mistakes," And then her eyes flashed to Brittany and Santana subtly, "And how we leant to love..."

Santana felt as if her heart stop, feeling threatened by the was Quinn as looking at her, so she shuffled away from Brittany. _You have to help them, Quinn. They need each other, no matter what it takes, you have to get them together._

"Dammit," Kurt whined, "she's right."

"Yeah she is... But how are we supposed to fight Figgins on his ruling?" Mercedes spoke, bringing up a good point and everyone took it in turns to shrug in reply.

Mr. Schue's arrive before anyone answered, "Oh hey guys, looking at old Thunderclaps?"

"Sort of." Kurt nodded, still wondering how they could get themselves a photo.

"Can I borrow one of these?" The teacher asked, although he had already yanked one from Kurt before he got an answer, "You know what, this years thunderclap is gonna have a glee club photo with every one of your smiling faces. You have my word on it."

One by one, the teenagers agreed hesitantly making Quinn grin widely. Everyone would've thought it was because they were getting the picture, but the only thing she was really focused on was the fact that the world was changing.

_I may not have to die..._

oOo

As Quinn walked around the corner, with her hands planted firmly on her hips when she spotted Rachel walking in the same direction she was headed, so she sped up and called out to her.

"Hey..." Quinn spoke softly, but as she did her memories came crashing down on her the second Rachel stopped and turned to face her with a small smile. It hit her quickly, it hit her hard. The sudden feeling that she was back living the other life, as if she'd just finished performing for Regionals all over again. She remembered how she'd barely gained enough confidence to finally tell Rachel her feelings and try to stop the wedding and then to only realise that the brunette had sung to Finn, only ever Finn.

_It hurts, it hurts so much._

She was trembling and could feel herself becoming short of breath. She could feel Rachel's small hands on her shoulders, shaking her softly. Her eyes slowly wondered to see the Diva's thumbs drawing circles into her shoulder blades, trying to calm the pregnant teenager.

"Quinn, what is it? What's wrong?" Rachel rushed, bewildered to what had freaked her friend out to cause what looked like a panic attack.

"I-I need-I need to go." The blonde whimpered, pulling herself backwards and out of the other girls grip. Even though she wanted nothing more than to hold onto the future Broadway singer and never let go she needed to get out, she needed to breath and she couldn't in her presence.

"Quinn, please just tell me what's going on!" Rachel begged, reaching out for the blonde.

"Stay away, please..." Then she ran, shoving past her crush and sprinting down the hall. She ran past the bathroom, her and Rachel's bathroom and more and more memories rippled through her thoughts. From the slap at prom to handing Rachel her acceptance into Yale.

She stopped at the first empty room, slamming the door shut and her pale hands fumbled desperately to turn the latch. Gasping for breath and wheezing as she slid down the door, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly. Her blood pounded in her ears and all she could do was stare blankly ahead of her.

A loud sob escaped, tears filling her eyes and steadily steamed down her face. She thought she'd gotten over it, but she'd tried to very hard to forget the accident and the moments leading up to it. Her life was a lie, It was better sure, but it wasn't her life and she didn't think she deserved it. She was confused beyond belief, what was this life she was living now? And why was she the one to be given that second chance.

She'd only been in the room for what felt like a few minutes, but really she'd been in there considerably longer. When there was a quiet knock on the door, she took in a shaky breath and twisted around to see through the glass. She couldn't see who it was and her worst fears told her it was Rachel and she just couldn't bear to see her yet.

"Yes?" She all but whispered.

"It's Tina, can I come in?" Quinn opened the door without a second thought, the girl had somehow become her best friend and she was one of the few people she could see trusting with her secret of the time warp.

"Okay..." She said quietly, reaching up to unlatch the lock and it push it open quickly. The Goth walked in and re-closed the door, taking a seat beside her friend, they were silent for a while before the girl spoke up.

"I just saw Rachel, she was hysterical." Tina explained, "Kurt distracted her with the news of the Yearbook, but she was still devastated... She thinks she did something to make you freak, what did she do?"

"Nothing, It wasn't her." Quinn's voice was monotone, staring straight a head of her.

"You don't have to lie to me, you know.?" When the time traveler stayed silent she continued, "I want to help you..."

"You can't, there's nothing you can do." She sniffled and swallowed the lump forming in her throat, "I'm pregnant, It was just hormones. Random crying is side effect apparently, who knew?"

"Funny," Tina giggled with her friend, "Well I'm here if you ever want to talk, whatever is bugging you, I'll be there for you."

"Thank you." Quinn said giving her a little hug from the side, "And I'll talk to Rachel at lunch, It'll give me a few hours to pull myself together."

"Now, let's go or we'll be late for our next lesson." Tina told her, standing up and offering her hand to Quinn and helped her to her feet. Fumbling with the sleeve of her cardigan, Quinn wiped her eyes with the back on her hand as she followed her room-mate into the bathroom to wash her face before heading to their lesson.

oOo

The lunch bell sounded and the hallway flooded with hungry students, eager to be first in line for their food. Quinn on the other hand headed towards the Principal's office, waiting outside and overhearing the end of the conversation.

"Oh... Fantastic, thank you so much." Rachel was put off, without any more to say she left the office and headed back out into the corridor, finding Quinn waiting for her.

"Hey Rachel." The blonde smiled weakly, "How did it go?"

"Very well," She said with a mega watt grin, "We're in the Thunderclap."

"That's great." Quinn replied, pulling her books into her chest.

"Is-Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" Rachel said, obviously trying to hint at the earlier incident.

"Yes, do you mind walking with me to the Library?"

"I don't mind at all."

They walked in pace with one another through the school, Rachel's hands clasping together behind her back and biting down on her lip to stop herself from pushing the pregnant girl for answers. Quinn could see how nervous Rachel was and once they reached an empty set of chairs she ran through her speech one last time in her head.

"Okay," She breathed, "I just-I wanted to say that I'm sorry about earlier, for worrying you."

"Did I do something?" Rachel whispered, brushing her hands down her skirt to wipe away invisible dust.

"It had nothing to do with you," Quinn took the other girls hand into hers, playing with her fingers, "I just realised something and everything became too much."

"Are you okay now?" The brunette asked, her eyes following the movement of Quinn's thumb which moved back and forth over her knuckles.

"...I'm perfect." Quinn squeezed her hand, "I'm just perfect."

Rachel couldn't speak, her words just caught in her throat. Reveling in the feeling of Quinn linking their fingers together and shuddering at the contact. She was more than surprised that the other girl was being so open about their friendship, even more so by the affection Quinn was showing towards her. The two of them just sat together, their eyes never looking away, they couldn't because then the moment would be over and they didn't _ever_ want it to be over.

"Um, sorry to break up this strange staring contest but I need to borrow Rachel." Kurt said awkwardly, gaining the girls attention.

"Oh-I need to go anyway." Quinn dropped the brunettes hand and got up from her seat. Walking away quickly to avoid the other two from seeing her dark blush and speed walking through the book shelves until she came across Santana and Brittany sat together on a desk, drawing in one of the yearbooks.

She slowed her steps and smiled at the pair of them, seeing the head cheerleader watching the blonde dancer from the corner of her eye. She wished there was something she could do, anything to help them Santana realise what she was missing out on sooner than the time before.

"Eyes to yourself, Preggers." The Latina remarked.

"Sorry..." Quinn grimacing at her tone and walking away. _I have to help them see how much happier they'd be..._

oOo

Once school was out, another Glee club meeting was called. Everyone surrounded the instruments, laughing together as Matt and Mike had a dance-off in the centre of the room. The only two people who weren't involved was Quinn and Finn.

The pregnant girl was sat in one of the chairs to the side of the drum kit, reading a book that Peter had recommended to her, called _Replay by Ken Grimwood._ It was yet another time travel story, but one that closely related her own situation, it was fascinating. Differently, Finn was the outcast of the group. Sat on the front row in the middle of the room, far from the other students, still suffering with his punishment. He was slumped back with his arms folded angrily, feeling left out as he was watching Rachel longingly as she walked over to the piano.

"Kurt I have a fantastic idea for a club that would officially make me the most involved student in the whole school." Rachel told him with enthusiasm, "I want to start a _gaylesball_.

"I'm sorry?" His jaw opened slightly, his forehead creasing with confusion.

"The Gay, Lesbian, Alliance." She explained, "The gay-lesb-all."

Quinn's head raised at the idea, thinking of how a club around the same thing would help on her conquest to get Santana out of the closet happily without getting herself hurt in the process.

Kurt just shook his head and walked away from her, leaving the other girl pouting with disappointment. It took Rachel all of thirty seconds after that to move and sit by Quinn, leaning into her shoulder so they could read her book together, making the ex-skank fill with happiness that the girl had chosen her company over others.

_Note to self, talk to Rachel about the club later._

"Hey guys, I have some great news!" Mr Schue clapped upon entry, "Glee club gets a photo in the Thunderclap."

Everyone grumbled with agreement, still not 100% sure on whether they wanted to go through with it but what Quinn said had gone through so whether they wanted it or not, they knew they would regret it in years to come.

"Yep, it's going to show everyone in this school that glee club is on its way up. When we win Regionals, those Thunderclaps are going to be collector's items. I mean, all of your classmates are going to be _begging _for your autographs." Then his expression changed to one more upset, "But I have to compromise to do it... We only get a quarter page in the back, which means we have to pick two team captains to appear in the photo. So tomorrow, we're going to put it to a vote. Exciting huh?"

Quinn felt Rachel immediately sit up straight, looking around the room with slight panic. She needed that photo and she wouldn't stop at anything to get it. _You need to go to Sylvester and get Glee their page, you have to do it for Rachel._

oOo

Later that night, Quinn want back to Tina's and the pair of them arranged to have a geek-a-thon. The two of them were able to be themselves around each other, without having to deal with what everyone else thought.

"I'm home and I bring Breadstix and boys." Tina yelled through the house, bringing Quinn out of her sleepy daze and current daydream. She'd been envisioning her future, one with Rachel by her side, one where she got her happy ending.

"Boys?" Quinn frowned, her lips tugging downwards with slight displeasure, "Why are there boys?" _I want girls, particularly one girl._

"Because we're awesome." Matt jumped into the room, a grin spread across his lips. Behind him was Mike, in his arms was the food. Even though her night was supposed to be spent with Tina, she was glad to see her two other friends.

"I suppose I can allow your company." The blonde laughed, a smile appearing as she watched Tina giving Mike orders. _Looks like their hitting it off..._

"We've brought the popcorn, behave or you wont get any." Mike warned from the kitchen, laughing at something that the Gothic teenager had said.

"I guess I can be good then," Quinn beamed, "as long as you hurry up so we can start."

"What are we watching?" Matt looked to her, sitting down on one of the recliners and stretching out so he can put his feet up on the coffee table.

"Um, well you can put something you guys like I guess." The pregnant girl offered, feeling embarrassed to admit to what they were actually planning on seeing. The boys knew she was a bit of a geek, that was for sure but this was taking it to a whole knew level.

"No It's cool," Mike said, sitting on the opposite side of Quinn so that Tina could sit between the pair of them. "we don't mind."

"I insist." Quinn told them forcefully, her cheeks turning pink.

"Why are you so bothered?" Tina raised her eyebrow, confused by the girls unwillingness to admit their real plan for the day.

"It's rude to make them watch something they probably don't like." The girl spoke quickly.

"Tina, what were you going to watch?" Matt sat up, taking his food as Mike passed it to him.

The girl felt the intense death glare coming from Quinn but chose to ignore, "We were planning to have a Doctor Who marathon."

"Tina!" Quinn hissed, throwing a few pieces of popcorn and throwing it directly into the Goth's forehead.

"Starting from the new Doctor Who?" Mike asked excitedly, "Because I love Christopher Eccleston's, he's my favorite!"

"No way, Tennant is the best." Matt argued back, knowing full well that he'd had this conversation with his friend before and each time it ended with the pair of them ignoring each other for a few days.

"I agree with Mike." Tina blushed, seeing Matt mouth the word _whipped _to the other Jock who just looked the other way to avoid the awkwardness of the moment.

"Wait, you guys watch it?" Quinn was baffled, she thought that the boys would have taunted her but instead it seemed like they enjoyed watching the show as much as she did.

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Oh," The girl bit her lip, "Well I guess in that case then, David Tennant was the greatest Doctor."

"See, I told you!" Matt cheered, leaning over the side of his chair to high-five Quinn.

"Whatever, just put the show on and we'll see who's the best." Mike shook his head, disagreeing with his friends.

_I'm really starting to enjoy this second chance._

oOo

The very next day went just as Quinn presumed, with everyone coming together and nominating Rachel instantly as the Glee captain, having gone back completely on Quinn's plan since finding out that it wouldn't be a team photo.

This then created Rachel's rampage to find herself a co-captain, trying everyone until it came to Quinn, Finn and Santana remaining. Although the Head Cheerleader was completely out of the question, so she went to the blonde first in hope the girl would accept.

"Hello Quinn, may I take up a moment of your time?" She asked, biting down on her lip to stop her anxious word vomit.

"Sure, take a seat." The blonde tapped the spot beside her, "How can I help?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to be my co-captain in Glee." Rachel admitted quickly.

"You'd want me?" Quinn frowned. _Last time she didn't even bother ask me, she wasn't supposed to ask me, _"What about Finn?"

_What are you doing? Why the hell did you ask about that idiot man child?!_

"Oh I don't think he's the best person for the role after the incident involving you and the baby, he's not a good enough role model for the other members, you on the other hand were the head cheerleader and have experienced being a leader and know how to motivate peers." Rachel paused, "Sorry, I talk a lot when I'm nervous."

_I make her nervous, I make her freaking nervous!_

"It's okay, you're adorable when you ramble." Quinn admitted under her breath, but Rachel had heard and she was unable to stop the way her cheeks turned a light pink.

"Thank you..." Rachel whispered in reply, playing with the bottom of her skirt, "So will you?"

"...Yes." Quinn agreed, bouncing her feet on the wooden beams. _Playing co-captain means more time with Rachel, which is perfect for me!"_

The Tiny girl beamed and lunged at her, knocking the breath out of the blonde, they would have probably toppled over if it weren't for Quinn's strength keeping them up.

_I love having her in my arms, I want to keep her forever, she's the only one for me..._

The pregnant teen swallowed hard and dry, as she felt Rachel tighten her arms around her. The tiny Jewish teenager tilted her head to the side coyly, observing Quinn for a moment in her flowery baby-doll dress with a matching headband and a cardigan to perfect the look, she looked back over the blonde, holding her eyes for a second.

"Thank you..." Rachel breached out against Quinn's jaw.

"It's nothing." The ex-cheerleader responded, looking down at the girl in her arms, her eyes darting from Rachel's lips to her eyes. The pair of them knew they were in the embrace far longer than normal friends would have been, but all they could think about was how good it felt to be close to one another.

"We have approximately seventeen minutes before we're needed for the photo." Rachel informed her, unwillingly.

"We should probably go then." Quinn agreed and then a thought hit her. _She could ge them the full-page photo, all it would take is a word with the cheerleading coach, _"Can we go somewhere first?"

"I-if you're quick." Rachel nodded, it was becoming clear that she would do anything to please Quinn and she didn't care.

oOo

Quinn hesitated as she stood outside of the office, trying to build up her confidence to put on her old HBIC act and make Sue believe she was the same old Quinn, even without the cheerio's uniform she could still be that cold-hearted prodigy she'd said herself was somewhat proud of.

"Miss Sylvester, we need to talk." She strode into the room, making the woman stop whatever she was doing. Quinn breathed in slowly, getting into character, trying to remember the last time she'd been in this position.

"Oh I've got nothing to say to you, Preggo." The track-suited woman returned her attention to her notebook.

"You need to listen." Quinn said strongly, arching her eyebrow and maintaining that famous glare she'd perfected long ago. It was tough to not give in and walk away but when her gaze flickered to the window and to the back of Rachel's head as she waited for her she knew that she had to do this.

"Entertain me then, Q." Sue sat back in her chair, taking her glasses and moving them up to rest on the top of her head.

"Glee club are getting a full-page photo," Quinn held out her hand to stop the woman before she argued with her, "You are giving up one of the cheerio's _six_ pages, and _you_ are giving it to the New Directions free of charge."

"Why would you possibly think I'd be willing to do that?" The woman shook her head, wondering how the one girl she'd had hope for had turned out so stupid.

"Because it's not fair the way you treat us and... If you don't I'll get you disqualified from competition." Quinn found her momentum, rasing her hands onto her hips, I can get your amateur status revoked, all those free shoes, complimentary tanning and hair cuts!" She tried to remember the last point, taking a few seconds before it came back to her, "Those seasons ticket to Cedar Point, we sold those on eBay, for a profit." She was about to land it, all she had to do was give the woman the ultimatum, "Seems to me that if Figgins found out, _you_ would get banned from competition."

Sue watched the girl, taking in everything just said, "Fine, you want the page? You can have it, just for that little act right there. You know Q, I'd forgotten just how ruthless you really are. You're like a young Sylvester." After what Quinn could only assume was a compliment she continued, "Now get out of my office, if you can manage to make it out of the door without your water breaking and ruining my new carpet."

With that Quinn walked through the door and walked away, her head held high until she was out of view, then her disappeared and she let out the breath she'd been holding. _Wow... T__hat was amazing!_

"What happened? I heard shouting." Rachel was behind her, having followed her from the office but Quinn must have been too in the zone to notice.

"It's fine-I think I just blackmailed Sue into giving us a full-page in the yearbook." Quinn grinned, looking to Rachel to see how her grin grew impossibly larger. "Shall we go break the news to everyone?"

"Yes-No-Wait!" The brunette's smile faded, "Does that mean you're not my co-captain any more?"

"Rachel, I'm still the co-captain, we're just having a team photo instead." Quinn soothed her and watched the smile return. _I love seeing her happy, I just wish I could make her see how much I wish I care about her. _

oOo

As everyone filed into the class room, the very next day. Mr. Schue stood at the front of the room, unusually on time for the Glee meeting and everyone took to their seats working up from the front.

"Hey guys," The man said, weary eyed, he'd obviously had very little sleep. Quinn knew that he'd left his wife, just the dispatched look on his face said it all, she felt sorry for him but in the end of it all he was happier without Terri.

_Now just to help him with Miss Pillsbury... _

"But we don't want to go to Sectionals without you." Artie said sadly at the information.

The man rolled up his sleeves, "We have a picture to take today, thanks to Miss Sylvester offering us one of her cheerio's pages. I don't know why she did it but we should be grateful that's she's done so."

Rachel looked to Quinn, raising her eyebrow in question and the girl just shrugged in return. She didn't want the limelight, she wanted Rachel and that's all that mattered to her.

"So they're setting up in here, so you guys go get gussied up and be back within twenty minutes and I want to see a smile on each and every one of your faces." The spanish teacher clapped, only to then stop them from leaving, "Where's Finn guys?"

"Oh we saw him yesterday," Rachel said sadly, "The yearbook photo was gaining him some unwanted attention from Karofsky and Azizimo and basically the entire football team and he picked his side."

"He chose the cowards way out," Puck muttered, having stood up the team himself along with Matt and Mike.

"I suppose he didn't have enough incentive to stick around." Quinn added, wondering if it were treatment of the Glee Club itself that had helped with his decision to quit.

"Let's just hope it's a momentary lapse of judgement," Rachel concluded, "or I wont have a suet partner for Sectionals."

"Actually, I have an idea about that." Quinn bit her lip, wondering if it were too soon to make such a huge chance but going with it anyway. If it kept Finn away from the diva, she'd do anything.

The students split off soon after, just as Quinn stepped forwards to leave Santana grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards. Quinn knew exactly what was going to happen, Santana was about to give her the old _Lima Heights Adjacent_ crap and so she silenced her before the girl got started, moving to whisper into the cheerio's ear.

"It's between you two, I'm not getting involved." Quinn drew a little cross over her heart as she stepped away, "I know nothing unless you want me to."

Santana hadn't really been preparing for her confrontation to go this way and so she let her leave.

_I really need to help her, a__ll I have to do now is decide on the best way to do it..._

* * *

**A/N: So I hope you enjoy it because I really hated writing this chapter for some reason, let me know on any future ideas or wishes for any of the characters! So Finn is gone! And Quinn's stepping up as Co-Captain.**

**Question: A****ny song requests for Faberry? Also j**ust for future reference, who would you like to see as the other male lead? It can be someone such as Blaine or Sam.

**Next Chapter: ****Faberry Faberry Faberry! **Sectionals. Work for Quinn. Some bonding as a team for the New Directions and Quinn bumps into someone she really doesn't want to see! 


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N: First things first, I have to apologise for the long wait! I'm back at college and I've had hardly any spare time but everything seems to have calmed down a bit now so I should be back to posting once a week, hopefully. ****Now, there was quite a few questions and what I've decided to do is reply to everyone via PM and not listing all the answers here, so anything you want to know feel free to pop it in a review or tumblr me and I'll answer as long as it doesn't spoil too much for you.**

**Anyway, here's the new chapter, I hope you enjoy it and It's Faberry goodness! Thank you to everyone reading this story and the people reviewing it, and adding it to their favourites and alerts, really makes my day! ****Special thanks to Superflyse, who without this story wouldn't nearly be as good. **

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Chapter Seven: Do you trust me, Rachel?

"Okay everyone, as we all know sectionals are nearly upon us and we need to prepare our set list, now we need to remember that we without Finn, we need a new male lead." Mr. Schue faced the front of the classroom full of students, his nerves were showing and it was becoming abundantly clearer every time he stepped up at the start of each Glee meeting that he didn't think they were ready for the competition.

"Puckerman should do it." Quinn voiced, the boy may act like a child at times but he was good and he'd sound well singing with Rachel and it was about time that he stepped up to show that he could be a leader. _I wonder when I should tell everyone that Brittany told Sylvester out set list... _Quinn pondered, trying to decide when the right moment to inform the group would be. Eventually, she chose to wait till the end to raise the matter, her eyes returning to her book in hopes that she would be able to finish the chapter she was currently reading before they were dismissed.

She wasn't so lucky.

Hazel eyes were dawn away from the novel the moment Rachel stepped up to stand next to Mr. Schuester. Quinn knew what was about to happen and yet she did nothing to stop it, as much as she wanted to protect the tiny girl from Mercedes harsh words, the blonde felt as though Rachel had learned a lesson from it last time and so held her tongue.

"I would be _thrilled_ to contribute a ballad for my repertoire." The brunette beamed, confident that the solo would be given to her without any arguments.

"Okay, you know what miss bossy pant, enough." Mercedes was up on her feet, storming down the risers with her hands on her hips, "I've worked _just_ as hard as you and I'm _just _as good as you, yet you always end up stealing the spotlight."

Mr. Schue went to intervene as the two diva's stepped into each other's personal space, but they both only held their hands up to stop him and show that they had it under control.

"Mercedes, do you honestly believe you're as strong a balladeer as I am." Rachel shook her head, amused at the thought, "Ballads are my thing, Mr. Schue."

"Rachel..." Mr. Schue touched her shoulder and guided her backwards and out of Mercedes reaching distance as she looked just about ready to lunge at Rachel, "I think you should let Mercedes give it a try."

"Oh..." Rachel paused, looking back to each of the other glee members and trying to get their opinion, but it was only when she spotted Quinn's subtle little nod that she finally agreed and motioned for Mercedes sing as she walked slowly and heavily over to her chair, obviously reluctant to give Mercedes her chance.

"_And I am telling you, I'm not going."_

It was safe to say that Quinn was enchanted, from the very first line. As the performers voice filled the classroom, reverberating off the walls all she could focus on was her friend. In that moment, Quinn felt a twinge of guilt for not taking this second chance to become as close to Mercedes as she was previously but she made note to try harder from now on.

"_I don't wanna be free."_

A wide, beaming smile broke out on the blondes face, she couldn't help it. Around the room the rest of the New Directions had similar expressions but if Quinn had to pick her favorite, then it had to be Brittany's. The dancer was sat forward in her seat, watching in amazement, her jaw slightly open and her eyes following everything that was happening before her, careful not to miss anything.

"_And I am telling you!"_

Matt and Mike were on their feet as the song hit its peak, most of the other's followed soon after. Behind Quinn, Kurt and Brittany were squealing and clapping their hands frantically whilst Santana was sat partly in a state of shock as Mercedes belted out the lyrics.

"_Love me, love me, love me!"_

As Mercedes sang the last lines of the sang, Quinn felt goosebumps ripple along her arms. She couldn't help but chance a quick look back at Rachel, hoping to see a positive reaction. Unfortunately, before she managed to turn her head around a bright blue argyle jumper passed by her side in a quick dash for the front of the room.

_Why isn't she saying anything? She has to say something, this is her moment... C'mon Rachel, make me proud._

And then, as if on cue, Rachel spoke.

"It's clear the room adores you," She started slowly, taking a breath before she started again, "and I know it wouldn't be my first choice, but I can't wait to see you sing that song at Sectionals..." The brunette spoke with no sense of doubt in her tone, "You're _amazing_ Mercedes, and you deserve this."

Although Mercedes was still in the process of gaining her breath, she managed to thank Rachel and promise to do her proud at Sectionals, resulting in an excited nod from the smaller diva as she opened her arms.

"I'm going to hug you now."

oOo

It had been a long day for Quinn, everything had seemed to be annoying her. Her hormones may have been to blame but there was many more factors to consider, so by the time the school bell rung she was wishing to be far far away from society.

Fortunately for her, this was kind of an option. Quinn had a shift at work that day and although some would see that as a bad thing, she found it to be a blessing. The book store was the blonde's private getaway from everything on her mind. It was the place where felt at home, surrounded by the novels she'd learned to escape to as a child.

Her other favorite thing about her job was that out of the student population at McKinley, only two were regular customers, in fact they were the only two customers from the school she'd dealt with so far. At first she was worried that they'd bother her, but she was happily proved wrong. Noah Puckerman came around regularly, using his visits to read comics upstairs, since Quinn had put a ban on his thievery he wasn't able to take them with him. David Karofsky was the second customer, he on the other hand would only ever stay for short amounts of time. Collecting a new book and sharing some polite small talk with her before leaving.

It was nice, she felt like she belonged here and she hadn't felt like that in a long time.

"Take a break, Quinn." Peter smiled warmly, moving to take her place behind the counter.

"Are you sure?" She asked back tiredly, there hadn't been much action in the store, only three customers that day and the quiet atmosphere was lulling her to sleep.

"Yes, go relax upstairs for a bit," He ushered her away with a caring expression, "I've got things covered down here."

"Just shout me down if you need anything." She told him, feeling guilty to be sleeping on her shift.

"Okay, I promise." The old man chuckled, he was beginning to understand that the young girl he'd hired wasn't one to give up without an argument but he'd be damned if he worked her into exhaustion.

As soon as Quinn reached the top of the staircase she walked over to the sofa, flopping onto her back. She lay there for a while, staring up at the ceiling as she allowed herself to slowly drift off. Just as her eyes fluttered shut, she lifted up her arms resting her hands against her baby bump, her thumb stroking her growing stomach.

When Quinn awoke, she found she wasn't alone in the small living area. She rubbed her eyes and brought herself out of her sleepy haze and her the weary hazel eyes landed on the tall football player sat across from her.

"You're awake." He mumbled, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading.

"Karofsky, how long have you been sat there?" She raised an eyebrow as she lifted herself into a sitting position and crossing her legs.

"Only like five minutes."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Peter said not to," The jock shrugged, turning over a page and then finally lifting his eyes to meet hers, "Is-um is it okay if I stay here and read?" He asked and Quinn could hear the vulnerability in his voice.

"Sure... Is everything okay?" She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth worriedly, she knew that the boy wasn't as strong as he made out. She knew better than anyone that Karofsky used his brute force as a way of trying to hide his secret, because he's scared of what will happen if he doesn't and hopefully she'd be able to change that, but she had to make sure that she didn't push him into something before he was ready.

"Yeah I just wanted to get out of the house for a bit."

"Oh, I know how that feels."

A long silence filled the room for what felt like a minute or two, all Quinn could think about was her future relationship with her parents. She was obviously had no plans to fix things with her father but her mom was something she was unsure about, last time they'd managed to work things out but this time round Quinn planned on winning the heart of Rachel no matter what it took and she wondered how her mother would take the news.

_I could lose it all over again, but it'll be worth it for her-_

"You don't drive any more..." Quinn's head snapped up at the sound of Karofsky's voice that interrupted her thoughts, she went to open her mouth to answer but she couldn't find a response. The question had completely thrown her off, it wasn't the change of subject she'd been expecting and it _wasn't _something she'd even thought about for a while.

"...Wh-How do y-you know I don't drive it?" She stuttered, trying to cover herself but the Jock only smirked knowingly as she failed to keep her cool.

"I've seen the same red Volkswagen Bug parked in the same spot for the last few weeks, I get to school early and leave late most days for football practice, so I _know_ you don't drive it."

"...I-um," She stopped as she saw the look he was giving her, the look that told her that she could trust him, "I have this... Recurring nightmare, I get in a c-car crash and It becomes this-like out of body experience." She takes a deep breath, as she tries to re-word the events in her head to make sure she doesn't say the wrong thing, "My car is on fire, but I can't feel anything, not the pain or even just the heat from the flames..."

Karofsky's watched Quinn suck in a shaky breath, her hands trembling.

"I... I can see my mom." Her eyes welled up, tears threatening to fall, "She's screaming and there's nothing I can do." She looked down at her feet, blinking rapidly and biting down on her lip to stop herself from crying in front of the Jock.

"That's horrible..." He said slowly and she could tell that he his walls coming down, he was trusting her more and more. _I'm going to save him, I wont let him go through that again, I wont. _

"A-a while back I fell asleep in class and I had the dream, I woke up and for a few moments I couldn't feel my legs." She swallowed the lump in her throat, "I couldn't get in the car after that, it's given me this phobia of driving."

The footballer frowned ever so slightly before moving to sit on the very edge of the seat, giving her a questioning look, "Why did you tell me that? You didn't need to."

"We're friends, Karofsky, and friends trust each other." She couldn't really explain why she chose then to tell him the truth but as she did, it felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from her chest.

"I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"Nobody knows, I don't want anyone to know. It seems so cowardly to be scared of dreams, you know? I don't want people to think I'm weak"

"I could-we could drive home together some days in your car if you want? That way you'll start feeling more comfortable inside, or even just round parking lot if that is all you're up for?" Karofsky suggested with a kind tone, it was then that she realized that the boy wasn't trying to set her up to get answers but to only help her.

Even though the thought of being in the car again terrified her, she knew that she needed to do it in order to let go of the past.

"That sounds good..." She hummed, getting a smile in return. She knew right that this also meant something to the football player, it was more than just being nice and offering to help her adjust but he was getting a friend in the process, someone to talk to that would listen and not judge.

There was a short awkward pause just before Karofsky started to pack up his school bag, putting his book back inside and adjusting the strap onto his shoulder. Just after he'd said his goodbye, a thought popped into the pregnant teenager's head which caused her to shout him back. The boy stopped and turned back, giving her a questioning look.

"Finn quit Glee." She blurted randomly, making the boy chuckle at the lack on information was being given.

"Why are you telling me, that club is for lose-"

"Don't." She said coldly, wiping the cocky grin from his face, "Nobody's here for you to show off to, so don't."

"Sorry." He said dejectedly, feeling guilty for shaming the club his new friend was a member of, "But what does it have to do with me?"

"Sectionals is in a couple of days and we need a twelfth member to compete."

"Aannnd?" Dragged out, still oblivious to what she was asking of him.

"I just wondered if you-maybe wanted to join?" She asked hopefully, even if it were a long shot she wanted to at least try.

"No way. I'm sorry but I can't be seen anywhere near you guys." He shook his head, taking a step back with wide eyes, just the thought of being on the stage with them terrified him. He knew that no matter how much he could try, one way or another the news would get back to everyone at McKinley and then he'd have no hope of keeping his secret safe.

"Nobody would know, Karofsky."

"I can't, Quinn." He told her strongly, "You don't understand."

"Actually I do." The look she gave him surprised the boy, he could see the fear in her eyes although he didn't know what it was, he knew that he could trust that she understood.

"I have to go..." He whispered, an apology on the tip of his tongue but he didn't stay long enough to express it. Instead he made a hasty retreat down the stairs, leaving the cheerleader upstairs alone to think over how close she was coming to figuring out the boy the more time she spent with him.

oOo

After Quinn spent the better half of the week avoiding the members of the Glee club, she conceded and gave up putting off the inevitable any sooner. As soon as Lunch came around, the blonde girl went in pursuit of Rachel. Her first stop, the Choir Room.

_Damn it, she's actually in there._

As much as Quinn wanted to get this over and done with, a part of her just wanted to keep it quiet. She knew that they'd win the competition one way or another but every time she saw one of the group members she'd felt a pang of guilt. As if she was betraying them by keeping this a secret, she knew it was an over reaction but she couldn't rid the feeling.

_What's the point in being sent back in time if I'm not going to change anything right? I'm doing this for everyone, we'll have more time to prepare now..._

Choosing be done with the secrecy, she sucked in a deep breath and walked into the room confidently, "Rachel..."

The tiny Jewish teenager looked up from her place in front of the piano, Quinn guessed from the sheet music and the presence of Brad that she was practicing her vocals. The time traveler wondered whether it may have been best to return later, not wanting to feel the wrath of the diva sue to the interruption.

"Oh hello Quinn." Rachel beamed, skipping into the center of the room to welcome her.

"I have something I need to tell you and I want you to promise that you won't say anything whilst I'm explaining." Quinn informed her, pausing for several seconds to see what Rachel's would do.

The small diva just bit her lip, a sign that she vowed to keep quiet.

Quinn closed her eyes, gathering her thoughts before speaking again, "Sylvester leaked our set list, we can't use any of our songs. I know I should have told you sooner, but I've had a lot of things on my mind and I wasn't sure how to bring it up..."

Rachel pulled back at Quinn's ramble, taking a few step's further away from the girl.

"You can talk now." The pregnant girl said as the silence became too much.

"Tell me this is a joke, Quinn." The brunette practically begged, her eyes opening widely and giving the girl before her that almost broke her heart.

"I'm sorry but It's the truth," She uttered, "I do have an idea though."

Rachel turned her back on the blonde, dropping her hands on the top of the piano's surface, gripping it tightly. "This is a disaster!"

"Hey, don't think like that, I have an idea." Quinn said softly, in hopes of calming the other girl.

A groan escaped Rachel's throat, "What can you possibly say to fix this, Quinn? We're back to square one with only a three days left, there's no set list and choreography has to be scrapped a-a-and..." The smaller girl stopped, pinching her fingers to the bridge of her nose, "To put it plainly, we're screwed."

"Okay, first of all yes it's really awful that they stole our songs and everything but at least we know and we have a few days to fix this and figure this out. Secondly, the choreography was terrible anyway, I bet Brittany and Mike could come up with something better and more elaborate to help us win this."

"You really think we can do this?" Rachel asked sceptically, looking back over her shoulder.

"I really do." Quinn replied with a reassuring tone.

"Well we better go and tell the rest of the Gleeks and start preparing for our song choices."

"I-ah, I have a suggestion." Quinn admitted, playing with the sheet music in her hand.

Rachel tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, "I'm listening."

"...Do you trust me, Rachel?" She tentatively asked, afraid of what the brunette would say.

At this Rachel's cheeks turned a dark pink, Quinn watched the singer try and duck her head but acting on an impulse she reached out and lightly lifted her chin until their eyes met. The brunette swallowed thickly and all Quinn wanted was the ability to know what she was thinking in that moment.

"I trust you." Rachel whispered, "I really do, Quinn." she added, standing on the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around Quinn's neck, just proving to the girl that she was there and would listen but as the moment went on they both unintentionally melted into the hug. The blonde placed her hands on Rachel's hips, her hands pulled her in closer so they they were pressed together.

Without thinking about it, Quinn leaned her head against Rachel's, her cheek brushed against the other girls. The ex-skank's hands immediately tightened, unable to hold back the memory of their last hug together before the crash appeared in her mind but rather than letting go and running away like she had last time she did the opposite.

"_When you were singing that song, you were singing it to Finn and only Finn, right?" _That question burned in her mind, she was determined to change Rachel's answer.

Quinn held the brunette impossibly closer, needing that intimacy, needing her. She slid her arms over the girls back, squeezing her for just a few short seconds. It was barely noticeable, but it was enough to make Rachel's breathing hitch. At this point her head was a mess and she wasn't thinking clearly, so without thinking she nuzzled into the shorter girls neck. Though her fear of being rejected dissolved when she felt Rachel beginning to run her hands over her back slowly, her breathing becoming erratic but neither wanting to stop just yet.

Quinn wondered whey Rachel hadn't let go yet, this hug was obviously much more than something friends would share and yet there the singer was, clinging onto her.

After another minute or so Quinn took the last step, her lips brushing against Rachel's pulse point ever so slightly. Then her nerves got the best of her and she pulled away, but Quinn made sure to keep her hands on the other girl as she stepped out of the embrace. Unsure of what came next, the blonde brushed a few pieces of hair from Rachel's eyes, stroking her cheek before letting go completely.

Even though they weren't touching any more, Quinn still felt the lingering warmth left from the hug. It broke her, everything she'd just experienced had been a dream as of five minutes ago, a dream that had been with her for as long as she could remember Rachel.

"I... I um, better go." Quinn stammered, she could feel her heart beat beating far too fast to be considered healthy, "I'll see you later."

Rachel never replied, to be fair she looked too stunned to be capable of words in that moment so instead of waiting Quinn turned around and walked quickly to the door, shutting it as she left the room.

"Holy shit." She cursed, her hand coming up to cover her mouth and muffle the sound of her gasp. It was probably hormones that caused the tears but the sense of happiness took over and she found herself unable to care whether that was true.

oOo

"Mercedes, I don't think you are taking into consideration the amount of time and effort I put into planning last night, as much as you don't like it, you don't have anything as polished as 'Now I'm Telling you' and 'Don't rain on my Parade' is the perfect solo and we can win Sectionals with it!"

Quinn had walked into world war three, Rachel and Mercedes were arguing over who got the new solo, Artie was continually ramming his wheelchair into the wall whilst Santana was slumped in her chair shouting expletives in Spanish at every chance she had.

It was utter chaos.

"You have do something," Tina dropped into the seat beside her, "you're the co-captain so take charge."

"Rachel normally does that stuff." Quinn replied, her eyes still on the small diva as she pulled a chair in front of Mercedes and stood a top it, looking down at the other girl rather than up. She couldn't help the small burst of laughter as it slipped from her lips.

"Unfortunately, Rachel is a little busy right now." Tina nodded her head in the direction of the small girl, just as Brittany stood up.

"Stop the violence." The dancer said in a monotone voice, her eyes moving rapidly around the room, not knowing who to look at.

"This is all your fault, Brittany." Rachel accused, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

"Don't talk to her like that, Hobbit." Santana hissed, "Sue was the one that leaked the set list, It's not Brittany's fault that she used her."

"You were probably in on it too." The small girl countered.

"That's it, I'ma go all Lima Heights on your ass!"

Quinn got to her feet quickly as the Latina threatened her crush, snapping her fingers at Puck and pointed towards Rachel, he got the hint and picked her up in a fireman's lift.

"Noah, put me down this instant!" The brunette screeched, slapping his back and kicking her legs to try and break his hold.

"Quinn's orders, not mine Princess." The jock informed her, carrying her over to the top of the risers before letting her down.

"Right, you all need to shut up and stop arguing with each other so we can start to prepare, either that or we go to Sectionals and make a fool out of ourselves." Quinn stood in the middle of the room, "As you can see Mr. Schue is busy with Miss. Pillsbury's wedding drama and so this is all on us so If it's okay with you I'd like to tell you my idea."

"Speak tubbers." Santana commanded, still furious by Rachel's accusation.

"As we all know the Sue leaked the set list," Quinn started, trying to put together a speech that would rally everyone together, "but at least we know. I have some ideas for the songs and I'm sorry but Mercedes we really have to give this one to Rachel." The blonde held her hand up to stop the oncoming interruption from the girl, "She's our best shot, whether you like it or not. As for the dance routine, I was thinking Mike, Matt and Brittany could put something together for us?"

"I'm in." Mike Agreed and soon after Matt and Brittany did the same, although the cheerios response was a lot more enthusiastic than the other two's.

"Okay then, let's do this." Quinn clapped, trying to imitate Mr. Schue when he would set of an assignment.

oOo

Days later they were boarding the school bus about to start the journey to Sectionals. The week had been tough, they'd all been working twice as hard to get the routines perfected in the short space of time. None of the Gleeks had taken the news of the betrayal well but they knew they didn't have time to consider acts of revenge just yet, that could wait until after they'd won.

The bus filled and Quinn took the seat next to Rachel after dragging Jacob Ben Israel up and shoving him into the empty space parallel to them, earning her a grateful smile from the brunette.

Then they were on their way, Quinn and Rachel spent most of the duration of the trip discussing the dance routine that had been put together over the last few days with a few interruptions from Matt every now and again as he jumped in and out of conversations with people around the bus.

Around the half way mark Quinn received a text from Santana asking her why she was sat with the tiny diva, she ignored It and continued her conversation. She knew she needed to talk to the new Head Cheerleader soon but this wasn't the time or place to do it.

When they arrived they sat in the crowd to watch the stolen performances, Quinn noted that Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury disappeared at one point and returned later a little less aggravated. Mr. Schue had been furious at first when the Gleeks had told him about the set lists but once he'd seen the new performance he changed him mind since it was ultimately better. _They must have spoken to the other glee directors, I don't see why though, It's not like it's going to make much of a difference..._

After sitting by and watching their stolen performances, they were up. There was rush of nerves behind the curtains but the moment Rachel opened her mouth everyone seemed to calm down and watch as the small girl sang the song she'd long ago perfected.

"_Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter."_

Quinn closed her eyes, listening intently to Rachel's voice until she heard Matt sharing hushed words with Tina, she moved closer to see that they were peeking out of the curtain and had spotted the Finn in the crowd. The boy had turned up in the green room, dressed in the costume and ready to preform, having apparently been given a pep talk from Mr. Schue but nobody listened to what he said and only informed Finn that he was too late. There wasn't a chance he could learn the lyrics and the dance routine in time, Quinn really wished she could have taken a picture of his face, it was perfect.

"_To rain on my parade!"_

The blonde felt her heart beating faster as she watched Rachel. _One day she'll be on Broadway and I'm going to be there when she does. _

"_Hey, Mister Arnstein, here I am! I'll march my band out!"_

Their cue, Quinn moved back into the line and followed behind Kurt as the group made their way down the aisle, in sync with each other. It worked better than the first time. Brittany had made sure to get everyone together one lunch time, and make them all practice walking down the auditorium stairs, refusing to let them leave until it was done without mistakes.

Before Quinn knew it, she was on her mark and the next song was playing. Her back was facing the crowd but she could see Puck from the corner of her eyes, taking slow breaths to prepare himself until the moment came where he spun around to sing the first line of "_Hello, Goodbye" _having picked the song because of her memory of the lyrics and a few of the dance steps that she made Brittany re-use.

"_You say yes, I say no"_

They were all facing forwards by the time the lyric ended, Rachel was walking towards the Mohawked boy as they sang together. Making their way down the small bunch of risers as the rest of the group moved around them, perfectly in sync. Quinn had just enough time to sneak a quick look at Rachel as the girl's voice filled the room, mixing with the father of her child's.

"_You say stop, I say go, go, go, oh no!"_

The girls separated for the chorus, singing the first part and then the boys the second until they came together. The boys spun around and made their way across the stage, each of them standing between the girls.

"_You say goodbye and I say hello"_

The next line was Quinn's and she sang she felt Matt's arm circle her waist and lift her into the air, she spotted the other boys doing the same to the girls they'd been partnered with. She was twirled her around and then placing her back in the floor softly.

"_Hello hello"_

Quinn sent a small smile to Tina as she was spun around into Matt's arms, having the small breather before she was back in position and moving the top of the stairs again as the boys moved to the edge of the stage.

"_You say yes (I say yes) I say no (But I may mean no)_

_You say stop (I can stay) and I say go (Till it's time to go), oh" _

Quinn looked out to the crowd as she sung the next few lines, watching people as they got to their feet to clap along. She was feeling the adrenaline pumping though her, she never got tired of preforming. She knew she didn't have the best of vocals but she really did enjoy it.

"_You say goodbye, I say hello"_

Just as the next line started, everyone was circling their partner and she watched Rachel send her a wink before her attention was back on the audience. She grinned brighter than before, she couldn't contain the happiness that she felt when Rachel pointed to Finn on the "Goodbye"._ Yeah... Fuck you, Finn! _

"_I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello hello"_

The song went on, Rachel and Quinn continued to share glances towards one another and she was certain that her blush could be seen from the back of the room, but if she were honest, she didn't care as she moved around the stage, listening soundly to Mercedes as her voice took over.

"_Hey-la, hey-hey, lo-la" _Mercedes sang out as the rest of the New Directions sang the harmony's and Rachel and Puck's sung their part.

A short pause came after, in which Quinn focused in on Rachel, whose eyes in return were on her and Quinn was certain she stopped breathing for a handful of seconds as Rachel finished the song giving the blonde a wink.

_"HELLOOOO" _

oOo

They'd won. It was a relief for Quinn as she'd been scared that with the change of song the result may have been different. Plus, she was beginning to realise that with even just the small changes that had happened so far, the world she was living in now was an entirely new one. She could hear the team members cheers and screams as they were handed the trophy. Quinn went around the group, congratulating each person until she came across Rachel. The two stopped and everything managed to disappear, as if it were only the two of them on the stage.

_She looks so beautiful..._

"You were amazing." Quinn beamed with pride and just before Rachel could reply Quinn let her lips fall upon the other girls cheek in a chaste kiss, she winked as she moved backwards turning to face the rest of the group and trying to control her breathing at the same time. She wanted to desperately to turn around and see what Rachel was doing, what reaction she'd caused but it would have ruined the dramatic feel to the action.

So Quinn focused on the crowd, finding both Mr. Schue and Miss. Pillsbury on their feet and clapping. The rest of the short celebration was a blur, Quinn only remembered going back to the dressing room for a short speech from Mr. Schue and then she headed out into the halls.

Just as she turned the corner she was surprised with the sight of a boy in a red letterman jacket waiting with a bouquet of flowers, she all but ran to him and jumped into his arms.

"You came..." She said with a grin, "I can't believe you came, Karofsky!" She pulled back and looked down at his hand almost crying. _Damn hormones._ "You bought flowers..."

"You deserve it," He looked at her dejectedly, "why are you smiling?" He asked, feeling guilty for letting the girl down. He didn't have many true friends, he could argue that he actually didn't have _any_ true friends at all but Quinn had shown she cared so that meant something to him, "I didn't even sing."

"I don't care about that, It just means a lot to me that you're here to support me."

"Why?" He asked with a puzzled look.

"Because we're friends, right?" She looked at him that made it seem like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She needed him to understand that she cared, that he had someone to talk to. She wouldn't let him go through everything that happened the last time, she wouldn't ever let it go that far. He was worth more than that, every one of her friends needed her to change something in their lives and save them from something they didn't even know was going to happen and for Karofsky, this was it.

"Yeah, we're friends." He gave her a content smile, "But you have to start calling me Dave, my friends call me Dave."

"I think I can do that, _Dave._" She agreed happily.

"Can I walk you to the bus?" The boy asked, offering his arm to the blonde.

Quinn's lips curled upwards into a small smile, "Yes you can." She said, slipping her hand around the offered arm, walking alongside the taller boy as he lead the way to the parking lot. It was only when Quinn found herself passing by a familiar face that she was pulled out of the daze she'd been in from the moment the New Directions were announced the winners.

_Oh please no._

She slowed her pace until finally she came to a full stop.

_Everything was going so well..._

The pregnant girl risked a look back over her shoulder and immediately regretted it as her eyes narrowed at the sight of one, Jesse St. James.

* * *

**A/N: There you have it... Good cliffhanger? Like the Faberry? **

**Questions: What would you guys think about the chapter after next being in Rachel's POV?**

**Spoilers: Brittana, Dave/Quinn bromance, possible Geek-a-thon because I think we need more Tina. Jesse St. James and Shelby which means Jealous!Quinn. **


	9. Chapter Eight

**A/N: Apologies! I've been overloaded with a shit load of coursework lately and I have hardly any free time. After this week I'll have most things sorted so I'll try and make updates weekly. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, I'm going to actually try and reply this time because it really does mean so much to me that you like the story! **

**Here we go anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter, I'm not a fan of the episode so I've shifted it around a little bit. The story is moving along now so I'll be introducing some other plot changers soon! ****Special thanks to my tumblr heroes Superflyse and to klainetrainunicorn for sitting with me In media today and helping me get this finished! **

* * *

Chapter Eight: Are you jealous, Quinn?

"Remind me why we're in Carmel High again." Dave muttered, peering over his shoulder to see Quinn ushering him forwards with the flick of her wrist, he sighed but continued forwards, "In fact, I just want to know why we're in their auditorium, on our hands and knees."

Quinn paused thinking of an answer, the entire journey to the school she'd been dodging the question but she'd ran out of excuses, she didn't want to lie but it was embarrassing to admit that she was here to defend her crush, "We're spying on the competition-you know, for Glee club.

"Yeah right," The boy scoffed, "If that were true then I wouldn't be the one here and someone else in glee would."

_Okay, he just needs a little more to win him over. _"Well, I-uh saw some people from a rival school at sectionals and that's why we're here."She shook her head, trying to think clearly in order to come up with a successful lie. "We're just seeing if they stole anything from us, since we've had our set list leaked before, I thought it was better to find out now before everyone freaks out again." _That's better, a solid lie, he doesn't need to know that I'm here for Shelby. _

Seeing Jesse after the competition had thrown her off, even with his name scrawled in her little notebook, with the shiny gold sticker waiting to be placed, she'd forgotten. Quinn was was being given the chance to protect Rachel, to save her the heartbreak of being rejected from her birth mother. Quinn could remember just how crushed the tiny diva had been and she couldn't just stand by and let that happen again.

So the day after Sectionals, Quinn called Dave and propositioned him with a free book of his choice from the store in exchange for a lift to Carmel. _She wanted to storm into the building and face Shelby fearlessly but as they actually entered the auditorium, she lost her nerve. She'd pushed the footballer to the floor, effectively hiding them from plain sight._

"Quinn, can we get up yet? I'm In a really awkward position." He pleaded as his shoulder smacked against the chairs for a third time.

She rolled her eyes, "Don't be such a baby, you're a football player. I've seen you get tackled to the ground countless times, you're tough."

"Thanks." Dave said with a proud smile, "Seriously though, I may be good at dodging guys on the field not chewing gum and other shit on the floo-" The boys hand recoiled, pulling a face in disgust, "Ew-I don't even want to know what that crap is."

"Just wipe It off." Quinn chuckled at the disgusted look on her friends face, as she handed him a tissue she had got out from her purse.

It was another few minutes until Quinn realized that the music in the room had stopped, there was no voices coming from the show choir nor was there any sound of the coach's verbal abuse. She frowned, arguing whether it was safe to take a glance at the stage to see if everyone was gone.

"Uhh Quinn?" Dave narrowed his eyes, stopping dead in his tracks, "They're leaving."

"What is it-Oh." She'd lifted her eyes from the floor to see Shelby walking up the auditorium steps. _Now or never Quinn._ She took a moment before getting to her feet, appearing before Shelby. The teacher halted, a questioning look on her face. Quinn didn't really care for what the teacher thought, not when all she could think about was how the same woman had previously taken the role of being the mother from her.

"What do we have here?" The coach asked, signalling for them to get to their feet, "Didn't I see you at Sectionals."

"Yeah, we're students at McKinley." Quinn nodded, her tone harsh.

"You know, I usually don't cotton well about the competition sneaking in to watch a rehearsal, then again I have trouble seeing you as competition." Shelby mumbled the last part, mostly speaking to herself, "Didn't your coach tell you spying against rival schools is against the rules?"

"Ma'am we weren't-" Dave had gotten through half of his reply before he was cut off.

"Rachel Berry!" Quinn blurted, her eyes closing tightly as the name slipped out. _Smooth Fabray, she's going to think you're an idiot._

The blonde was beyond embarrassed that the pressure had broken her, but seeing the woman again made her lose all control. As much as she'd been mentally preparing herself on the trip over, it was nothing like seeing her again. Quinn's emotions got the best of her. She couldn't even hate Shelby for being her baby's mother, because _she_ was the one to give her away and _she_ was the one to screw it up her second chance but it still hurt.

Quinn's hand moved up to comb her hair from her face, distracting herself for a moment and even though it was only a small act, it was enough to bring her out from the haze she'd been in for the last minute or so. The ex-cheerleader focused back to Shelby, a little smirk appeared on her own lips as she noticed how taken back the teacher looked at the sound of the name, her mouth hanging agape slightly as if she wanted to say something, but she the shock of hearing her biological daughters name rendered her speechless.

"Dave, do you want to go wait in the car?" Quinn touched his arm lightly, getting his attention.

"Yeah, sure." The jock answered, although he knew it wasn't so much a question but an order put politely, "Give me a shout if you need anything, I'll wait in the hall." He didn't want to leave his friend alone, not when she was acting so out of character when around this other woman.

Shelby walked away the same moment Dave headed in the opposite direction, his head turning back when he reached the door to make sure Quinn was okay. Once he received a nod, the teenage boy went on his way. Quinn followed behind Shelby in an awkward silence, neither wanting to be the first to speak.

They entered the office and Quinn's hand unconsciously moved to lay on her baby bump, her thumb drawing tiny stars over the fabric of her baby doll dress. The time traveler eyes wandered around the room, to the trophies and plaques given to the drama and music department. It was impressive, the facilities and obviously education standards were much better compared to McKinley.

As much as Quinn tried to keep her mind busy, her thoughts always drew back to Beth and the regret she felt when she saw her with Shelby for the first time. It broke her heart just thinking about it and she definitely wouldn't go though that again.

"Take a seat..." Shelby pointed to the chair on the other side of the desk, taking her own seat across from her, "What's your name?"

"Quinn Fabray." She told her, fear of being reported to Figgins wasn't something that came to mind and she honestly couldn't care less.

"Are you friends with my daughter, Quinn?" Shelby asked, getting straight to the point, she wanted answers.

"Yes, she's my friend, but she's not your daughter." The ex-cheerleader snapped, using her practiced HBIC tone to talk to the older woman.

The teacher raised her brow, wondering If the teenager was confused, "Excuse me?"

"You're not Rachel's mom, you're her surrogate. She has two dads who love her and she doesn't need someone like you just walking into her life and breaking her heart." Quinn spoke quickly, she was angry and even though this Shelby hadn't technically done anything to aggravate her yet, she couldn't help the feelings left over from before the time warp.

"Look... Quinn." Shelby pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes to think of what to say. At this Quinn couldn't help but notice how alike Rachel was to the teacher and she wondered if she'd made the right decision to come and send her away. "I understand that she has to parents who care about her, I really do but what's to say she won't want a relationship with me? And who says that you're to be the one to make that decision for her?"

The response caught her off guard, making the blonde hesitate before speaking again.

"I'm not here to stop you from being a part of Rachel's life, that wouldn't be fair." She swallowed, it wasn't her place to send Shelby on her way and if she did then certainly the tiny diva back at McKinley would one day find out and hold it over her forever, "I guess I'm here to try and make you understand that the little girl you last saw is grown up now. Rachel Berry is a teenager and you have to accept that, because it's not fair if you give her the hope of having a mother and take then just take it away." _Again._

"You sound like you speak from experience." Shelby was quiet, she'd taken in everything the girl before her had said and now she wondered why it was Quinn who was saying it and not Rachel's fathers.

"I do." Quinn nodded weakly, recounting the events in her other life and the way her crush was effected by Shelby leaving her a second time.

The coach leaned back in her chair and then voiced the question that had been on her mind since the conversation began, "How do you know who I am? There aren't many people who know my connection to Rachel."

"I-um did some research." The ex-skank shrugged.

Shelby wanted to push for the answer to be expanded but seeing the way Quinn was glaring she was sure it was the best she was going to get, "I missed out on a chance to be there for Rachel growing up and I regret that, I really do. So what makes you think that I'm just going to leave again?"

_Because you've done it before and you'll do it again, you just don't know it yet. _"I knew someone like you, It was the same kind of situation and they left and replaced their child because they wanted to be reunited with the baby they gave up and not the young adult in their place."

"You seem to care a lot about what happens to Rachel." Shelby pointed out, a knowing smile on her lips.

_More than you know, more than anyone knows._

"Yeah well, she doesn't deserve having to go through that pain." Quinn said, trying to take a different approach to the question.

"That wasn't what I meant," The woman replied cautiously, "and I think you know that."

"Yeah..." Quinn breathed out a short laugh, "Yeah, she means a lot to me." _I love her. _

The pregnant girl didn't stay much longer, she left the room with no real goodbye, only a fake smile as she walked away. She didn't like how easily Shelby read her, in fact she didn't like Shelby at all, which only irritated her more. The last thing Quinn wanted was for the teacher to know her, to be anywhere near her. She'd never be able to rid the images of Beth in the other woman's arms, calling her mommy. _It isn't fair. _Quinn ground her teeth together, she wouldn't cry, not because of her. _You're a Fabray, this is the time to start acting like one. _She ordered herself, willing the tears to dry up before she reached Dave.

She was unsuccessful.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dave rushed forwards, pushing himself off the wall.

"It's nothing, can we just go home?" She blinked and tried to look away but he only stepped in her way again, this time with a small understanding smile upon his lips.

"Give me a chance, maybe I can do something to help?" He raised his eyebrow, "That's what friends do, right?"

Quinn inhaled, a slow and shaky breath, "Yeah, you're right." She nodded slightly, "I-I like someone, really like them... And I'm scared I'm never going to stand a chance." She admitted, looking down at the floor in embarrassment, she was never good at talking to people about personal things like this.

"What's getting in the way?" He asked, his arm moving around the smaller girl as she leaned into his side, she was quiet for a while, just allowing them to walk further away from the school.

"You know what, It's nothing." She shrugged when they reached the car, "It's not important, I'm fine." N_o you're not, you liar._

"I don't believe you..." He trailed off, a little worried he was over stepping. He knew they hadn't been friends for very long and he didn't know what he could or couldn't say. The footballer was about to let the conversation go but when he saw how unhappy his new friend looked, he decided not to care, "I don't believe you, and you know what, that's okay." He looked up to the sky, trying to find a way to verbalize his thoughts and feelings, "Whatever is going on, I'm here, right by your side. It may seem scary and I know-I know what scary is, but everything's always better when you have someone looking out for you, when you feel wanted and loved." His voice was soft and comforting, "Like when you were a kid and you were in your Mom's arms, when nothing was complicated, there was just love."

Quinn opened her mouth but she couldn't find anything to say. It turns out, all Dave needed was a friend to help him through his troubles and by the looks of it he was stepping in the right direction. It took all of three seconds for her to wrap her arms around the jock, smiling into his Letterman. She was trembling, maybe the long painful lulls between seeing Rachel had finally caught up with her, maybe it was relief, but after one hard heart wrenching sob, she let her heart go limp and she let the tears fall. She let the real herself be free for just a moment. _"Thank you." _Her voice was muffled and barely audible but she knew he heard by the way arms tightened his hold at the words.

"It's no problem." _He's going to be okay..._

oOo

Quinn had been studying in the library the next day when the sound of music filled her ears, she knew one of the voices so well that there wasn't even a possibility of making a mistake. So she got up from her table and moved behind one of the shelves, so be could get a better look but not get caught watching. It wasn't a so much surprise to see Jesse and Rachel sat together, it was more of a disappointment that the changes she'd made wasn't enough to keep the boy away. Shelby was still going through with her plan, the entire talk with her was a waste.

The ex-cheerio kept herself hidden behind the books until the end of the song, trying to ignore the stab of jealousy she felt with the look Jesse was getting from Rachel. _I want her to look at me like that, just me, nobody else._

Once the duet finished, the two stayed sitting and started to talk, Quinn figured it was important from the way she was reading Rachel's body language. Everything was fine and the ex-cheerleader kept her calm until she saw the flirty smile appear on Jesse's face, she felt he eyes burn into that cocky, smirky little face trying to disintegrate him into specks of overly peppy dust. She tried to will herself to walk over and smack that strained Disney prince smile off his face, but she knew that would only end badly for her. Instead, she dug her fingers into the wood of the bookshelf and gritted her teeth, trying not to leap over there a rip his _probably_ non-existent balls off. _I mean if he was trying to convince people he was manly, then his hair is so not doing anything for him._ Yet as much as she wanted to, she couldn't, she was so scared of losing Rachel that it kept her away. She wasn't brave enough and the thought of rejection was just too much. It killed her to sit by and watch Rachel slip further and further away again but she figured that like last time Jesse would only stick around until he wasn't needed any more. Breaking Rachel's heart all over again.

_Maybe I could just go over there and-_

"Stalking the Dwarf, really?" Quinn flinched at the sound of Santana's voice whispering down her ear, jumping backwards and stumbling into a stack of books on her way. Thankfully the shelves covered her from Rachel's sight as when the toppled over, not many people noticed, unfortunately the same could not be said for Santana.

"Damn it." She mumbled, starting to pick up the fallen novels before the librarian returned, her back turning away from the cheerleader.

"Is that your attempt at dodging my question, Q?"

"I wasn't stalking her, I just spotted her talking to someone I... Recognized." Quinn winced, knowing how stupid it sounded. _That still doesn't explain why you've been watching her though a gap in the shelf for the last ten minutes, too afraid to go over._

"Is that all I get?" Santana arched her eyebrow, making it clear that she wanted a better answer.

"Do you see that guy she'd talking to?" Quinn asked, finally moving to stand beside her old best friend and once the other girl nodded, she continued, "Well that's Jesse St. James, the male lead for Vocal Adrenaline."

"So you're going to tell me that you're over here, watching the Midget because you're looking out for the Glee Club?" Santana started to laugh, it was slow and taunting, clearly trying to get a rise out of her.

"Yes, why else would I?"

"I don't know," The girl narrowed her eyes, "but maybe you should start keeping your eyes to yourself, or people are going to start presuming things Tubbers."

"Oh and like your eyes aren't on Brittany at every possible chance you get." Quinn retorted a little hostile. _Drop it Santana, please._

"Don't go there." Santana deadpanned.

The blonde felt a pang of guilt in her stomach, she knew her friends sexuality was a sore subject and she felt bad for bringing it up, but she had to stand her ground, "Then leave me alone, forget you saw anything."

"...You're looking pretty damn pissed off, If I didn't know any better then I'd say you're jealous." The head cheerleader's eyes locked with Quinn's, almost daring her to say otherwise.

"I. Am. Not. Jealous." Quinn punctuated each word slowly, she couldn't let her know the truth, It would be held over her for a very long time. _You can't trust her yet, she's not the Santana you know._

Thankfully a distraction made it's appearance just as Quinn went to speak in the form of Brittany and although the scowl on Santana's face said the conversation wasn't over, she was glad that she'd been given a little more time to think up an excuse.

"Hi Quinn," The dancer beamed and then went to side beside her secret lover, their pinkies linking together automatically, "What are you guy's talking about?"

"Rachel's new boyfriend." Santana chuckled, although a little disappointed that it caused no reaction from Quinn, the other girls face was blank, seemingly bored.

"Can you just let it go? You're not funny" The blonde arched her brow, she couldn't take much more teasing from her friend. The small flames of jealously were slowly spreading like wildfire with every taunt and it didn't help that she could she could see Jesse and Rachel acting cosy from the corner of her eye.

"But it's so fun." The latina snickered.

"I don't like it when you guy's argue," Brittany pouted, her body shifting to get closer to the girl beside her, "You should try to be nice."

Santana internally groaned, never being good at saying no to her. Quinn saw a small smile pull at Santana's lips before she hid it disappeared, "Fine-fine, I'll be good."

Brittany bounced on the balls of her feet with joy, "Great, can we go to Breadstix now I'm hungry?"

"Yeah," Santana nodded, starting on her way but stopping for a second to shout over her shoulder, "you coming Q?"

Quinn adjusted her stance so she could peek one last time through the gap between books, getting a better look at Rachel and her heart ached at the sight. The Latina arched her brow, questioningly. Quinn hadn't been able to look away quick enough and Santana followed her gaze to see Jesse leaning in to Rachel, "Want me to punch him for you?"

"No, that's okay." Quinn shook her head with a sad little smile, until a thought popped into her head, "I-um, yeah I don't see why not." _I have to talk to Rachel soon, I have to know if I'm wasting my time._

oOo

Once she'd finished her meal at breadstix, Quinn headed outside, stopping as reached Santana's car. She paused, looking at her reflection in the car window, she tilted her head and focused in on her appearance. She looked so much younger, even If there was only a small difference to her features, she could see them. The teenager brushed a strand of blonde hair away from her eyes, pulling a face at its length. It never really bothered her before but looking at it now, she hated everything it stood for.

"Checking yourself out Q?" Santana laughed as she walked over to the car, having taken Brittany to the bathroom on a detour to the parking lot. The two girls walked over, pinkies attached. That was the only thing they had, in public they had to hide out of fear and Quinn hated to see Santana that way, nothing was worse than seeing the usually tough girl pretending to be someone she wasn't.

_That reminds me of someone..._

"I was just thinking about getting my hair cut," She ignored the remark, knowing it would only entice her friend further, "It's just an idea, no big deal."

"I know a guy, I can give you directions." The head cheerio commented casually.

"Can we come with you?" Brittany asked excitedly, overwhelmed that the three of them were hanging out again. The unholy trinity was back together, as they should be.

"Sure B." Quinn nodded, earning herself a giant grin from her friend.

"Okay, what are we doing tonight? 'Cause I'm bored." Santana asked, expectedly looking towards the pregnant teenager for an answer.

"I'm going back to Tina's, we have plans to watch movies."

"Great, I have drinks in the back, thanks for the invite." The Latina moved, opening the drivers door and taking a seat.

"Wait, you're not coming with me." Quinn told her, although she was glad to be spending time with the duo again, she didn't want it getting in the way of the geek-a-thon, it was the only time where she could let out her inner dork without getting picked on for it, "I mean, I can't even drink Santana."

"You can have my lemonade, Q." Brittany said, turning around in her seat next to her secret lover and looking with a warm smile at the other blonde.

"Thanks but-"

"Stop talking, you're giving me a headache." Santana hushed her, turning up the music, effectively drowning out Quinn's rebuttal.

After that, there was no more arguing, there wasn't any point. Santana was in one of her moods, where there was nothing you could do to change her mind once a decision had been made, Quinn was stuck with the two girls for the rest of the night. When they arrived at the house, she noticed Dave's car wasn't parked outside yet and bit her lip in worry. Not only were Santana and Brittany joining the movie night, but she'd forgotten that she'd also asked Dave to join them. The boy had recently earned himself a place in her little group of geeks, they'd been hanging out more often. Tina had been cautious at first but after spending enough lunch hours with him, she could now call him a friend. Quinn groaned, quickly rushing to the front door and headed inside, giving herself a good minute or so head start on her friends.

"Hey," She smiled awkwardly, giving Mike a high five upon entry and Matt a fist bump.

"Hi, where have you been?" Tina waved from her seat, she was lay across the largest of the sofa's in the room.

"Well I was hanging out with-"

"'Sup bitches," Santana's loud entrance brought all eyes to her, "What're we watching?"

"You invited _her?_" Tina's eyes widened dramatically, along with a small gasp.

The head bitch growled, "You gots a problem, Chang?"

"Cohen-Chang." The goth sighed halfheartedly, "But no, there's nothing wrong about you being here Santana, I just hope you didn't bring any slushies with you."

The Latina hesitated before dropping the hot-headed act, "I'm not always like that."

"We're not at school, so San doesn't have to be mean right now." Brittany elaborated, whilst pulling the shorter girl by her pinkie to the recliner scooting over just enough that they could cuddle together comfortably.

"O-kay, that's good I guess" Tina said with an accepting tone, knowing it was the best she was going to get from the cheerleader.

"Are you going to let me sit down?" Matt looked to Tina, his hands moving to his hips.

"Not yet." She replied, playfully.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked, amused by her friend's behaviour.

"She's mad because Matt said his favorite companion in Doctor Who was Martha." Mike explained, "Which I agree is ridiculous, because Donna's the best, she's hilarious."

"...San likes Rose, she says she's badass like her." Brittany joined in the conversation as she snuggled into her best friend, thinking nothing of what she'd said until she eventually noticed the silence she'd created, "Did I over share again?"

Santana's cheeks were a deep red, "That was supposed to be a secret, Britt."

Quinn's lips curling into a grin._ Her walls are coming down, It looks like helping Santana may not take as long as I thought it would._

oOo

By the very next day, the New Directions had all heard about Rachel spending time with Jesse St. James. Quinn hadn't meant for the information to get around so quickly, but after saying one thing to Tina, the gossip traveled to each member of the club. Mercedes and Kurt were the first ones on the scene, walking into the choir room and taking their seats on the other side of the room from Quinn, following them came Artie and then Tina finally entered and took a seat next to her pregnant friend, only really coming to support her.

"Hey guys." Rachel entered the room, her eyes moving away from her phone and the text from Kurt that had brought her to the room, frowning when she saw her friends angered faces.

"Cut the butter, Benedict Arnold," Kurt glowered, crossing one leg over the other, "We heard about your new boyfriend."

As much as Rachel tried, she couldn't stop herself from looking at Quinn and she tried to search the girls face hoping to find a sign of something, anything to tell her she was unhappy with the news. Yet the pregnant teenager was blank, keeping a neutral expression and looking away from the brunette.

"Look Rachel, we're all happy that you're happy, but we've worked too hard in Glee club to let you throw it all away on a relationship that _may _not even be real." Mercedes said with conviction, she wouldn't lose the competition because Rachel made a bad judgement in a boyfriend.

"W-why? Because he's in Vocal Adrenaline." Her voice quiet, her eyes again flicking over to Quinn's.

"Their motto is: _"Aut neca aut necatus eris,"_ which loosely translates to "Murder or be murdered." Kurt stated, getting to his feet and walking forward purposefully.

Quinn foot tapped Tina on the leg, trying to hint for her to make her own point.

"They give their dancers human growth hormone." Tina glanced over her shoulder and saw Quinn frowning, it wasn't the best argument but it was the only thing she could think up on the spot.

"We're not saying the dude is playing you." Mercedes said softly. _He really is Rachel, how can't you see this, I'd be so much better for you._

"He's playing you." Kurt rolled his eyes, unlike his friend he wanted to get straight to the point and stop giving Rachel the chance to make the wrong decision, which Quinn was a little thankful for.

The tiny singer huffed.

"We just think that until Regionals are over, we can't risk the possibility that he is." Mercedes again tried to go down the nicer route, "None of us want to go through what happened at Sectionals again and have our songs stolen. As well we performed, It wasn't something we were happy about."

"Me and Jesse, we may not be... _True love._" Quinn inhaled quickly, the two words felt as if they were ripping her heart in two, "But what if we are? I know who I am and how many chances at this am I going to get?" _Lots actually, you're so lovable. _

"If it's true love, then waiting until after Regionals shouldn't be a big deal, Rachel." Tina stated, earning grateful smile from Quinn. She knew how much her room mate cared for the diva and if there was anything she could do in order to help them get together, then she'd try her hardest to do so.

Kurt and Mercedes stopped and looked at one another, seeing that they weren't getting anywhere with Rachel and chose their 'Plan B', "If you don't break up with him you're out."

"You can't kick me out!" The brunette gasped, her hands shaking with anger, this was _her _club.

"No, but we can all quit if Mr. Schue doesn't." Artie muttered, his eyes not meeting Rachel's in guilt.

"W-well good luck winning without me." The girl proclaimed loudly.

"Everyone is replaceable," Kurt shrugged, "even you."

"Okay enough!" Quinn snapped harshly, getting to her feet with an ice cold stare directed towards Kurt, "Everyone out now, we're done here!"

"But this was your-" Mercedes started.

"Out. Now!"

With that command, everyone scurried out of the room. Tina was the only one to stop at the door to give Quinn an encouraging smile, unsure of what was going on but wanting to support her friend. The goth was the one one in the know with her crush on Rachel and it was nice to have someone be there and worry about her when things like Jesse came up.

"Are you really dating him?" Quinn stepped into Rachel's personal space, making the other girl inhale sharply.

"I-Well, what does it matter to you..." Rachel said with very little confidence, as if she weren't even trying to make it believable. There was something the future star wasn't telling her and Quinn wanted to know, she needed to know. This second chance would mean nothing if she didn't get the one thing, the only thing she'd wanted from the start. _I want Rachel._

Rachel's stutter didn't deter Quinn, only pushed her more.

"It matter's okay, just tell me." The ex-cheerio arched her eyebrow, biting down on her lip and internally pleading that Rachel would say no.

"_...Yes._" Her voice barely louder than a whisper, as if afraid to say the words.

Quinn's stomach dropped, her forehead creasing at the words. In that moment she imagined the many ways in which Jesse St James could 'accidentally' fall into Dave's fist and then very much out of the blue, run straight into his foot...with his face. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and blinked back the tears already forming behind her eyelids. It took all she had to look away before Rachel noticed, trying desperately to reel in her emotions, Inhaling slowly and then releasing a shaky breath before looking back to the brunette.

"He's not good enough for you." Quinn assured her, eyes shining with sincerity.

"He's the best offer I have at the moment." Rachel trailed her tongue across her bottom lip, her voice laced with seduction.

_Is she trying to hint at something? Am I reading too much into this?_

"Maybe you should wait, the right person will come along soon enough." The time traveler said, looking down at her feet, her cheeks turning a light pink as she did so. It was probably obvious what she was trying to clue her in on, but she needed Rachel to know just much she meant to her and hopefully then when the time came around when Quinn told her the true feeling she had towards her, they'd be returned.

He heart seemed to beat so fast it was a mere flutter now. It had wings and however hard she tried to pull it back it kept gravitating and circling Rachel trying to settle beyond the walls between her and the brunette girl. Every time she hit the wall it was like it got bruise, it got injured and it made it feel weak...vulnerable.

Rachel went to respond, but she couldn't get the words out so she sighed, "I can't wait forever, Quinn."

"I'm not asking you to." Quinn assured, "I just think that you're worth better than St. Jackass."

"He's a nice guy, you shouldn't judge a book by their cover." Rachel scolded, her lip moving between her teeth, trying to hold back the seemingly endless stream of words on the tip of her tongue tempting her to release. Instead, after a short moment to collect herself, Rachel chose to mumble something inaudible under her breath.

"I'm sorry?" Quinn croaked, her throat suddenly dry.

_Keep cool, you may have misheard her or be taking what she said in a different way than what she meant. Don't jump to conclusions, not with this._

"I said, that I lied to you." Rachel's smile caught Quinn's attention. The brunette girl stepped closer with only slight hesitation as she lifted up onto the tips of her toes. Quinn felt her heart rate increase dramatically. She found herself staring into Rachel's eyes, feeling a flutter of butterflies in her stomach as the smaller girl blushed, "When Jesse asked me out."

The time traveler felt her eyes fall shut when the diva's lips pressed softly against her cheekbone, the kiss lingered and then Quinn felt the shorter girl's hot breath move to just hit her ear. Her voice was quiet, barely audible but she heard it. She heard the three words that changed the entire time of the conversation, "_...I said no."_

By the time Quinn had opened her eyes, there was just enough time to catch Rachel taking the last steps out of the room.

_She said no..._

* * *

**A/N: Well what do you think? I wasn't too sure about this chapter, but I thought you'd waited too long so I hope you liked it! Next time I'll try and make the chapter a bit longer too. Let me know your thoughts and any ideas :) Also, just to answer a question, my favourite Doctor and Companion are Ten and Rose! **

**Spoilers: More Brittana and lot's more Faberry, there may be a kiss in the near future! Fabofsky stakeout at breadstix and I'm thinking of introducing another character!**


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